The Rise of Jakul
by TheMikeTheory
Summary: AU.OCs. In a world where Ash is the top Pokemon Master and the League has grown to include a worldwide competition referred to as the Omega Tournament we give you the story of two rising trainers driven to succeed, each with his own demons and dreams.
1. Chapter 1

**The Journey: Begins **

Man finds himself in a world where fantastic creatures abound. Upon arrival to the planet it became quickly apparent that these creatures, called pokémon, were at once mankind's greatest ally and most fearful enemy on this new world. A war broke out between the men who kept to their old customs, and their children, who thought they should live in harmony with the pokémon. The children and pokémon eventually won, but all means of contacting the mother planet Earth was lost. Centuries later, man no longer remembers they had lived anywhere else. The creatures had grown accustomed to man's presence and peace reigned as long as man did not create trouble.

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The forest was calm as he left his uncle's manse. He didn't look back at all as he pulled down his mask; he was beginning his journey and leaving his old life behind. As he walked along the first path of many towards Viridian he saw a girl walking the other way. He was glad he had pulled his mask down, it would have been awkward if she recognized him. He nodded to her as he passed, keeping ready to disappear into the trees if necessary. When they were separated by a bend in the path he stepped off of it and into the trees, following the path from a distance.

After several hours of travel he stopped. Ahead in the trees, about 30 meters away, he heard the sounds of battle. He crept towards the sounds, using all of his wilder skills to remain undetected. When he reached the clearing where the battle was taking place he paused in shock; a scyther, the king of the forest, was being swarmed by a group of ariados as it tried to untangle itself from their web. Every time it broke free, one ariados, and then another, would get a hold of it and bring it back down. He was impressed by the way that the scyther kept fighting throughout the battle. He decided that the scyther's tenacity would be extremely useful; the scyther would be his. He smiled to himself beneath his mask as he released his Pokémon. "Use Twister." The dragon's eyes glowed as it unleashed its powers. The ariados scattered as a few of them were tossed about in the sudden windstorm. As the scyther started to pick itself up the dragon hit it with a bolt of electricity knocking it back to the ground and paralyzing it. He smiled again as he threw the empty black pokéball, knowing it was useless for the scyther to struggle. When the pokéball stopped moving he went to pick it up, already planning how to bring Mars in line.

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_It was one year yesterday._ The thought kept turning in Mike's head as he decided what to do with his life. Being fifteen he could either continue schooling as his mother had wanted, or enter vocational training. He didn't want to start working yet, the only jobs he was even slightly interested in were running a pokémon daycare or pokémon ranch, and the only way to do either was to finish schooling and then enter into an internship, or prove he was capable of handling pokémon. And he was sick of school; being book smart was not something he thought was necessary, the knowledge he had gained from helping Professor Oak at his lab was all Mike needed.

Life had been difficult for the last year. The only thing he had left of his parents was the house and memories. And odd things kept happening, such as the large egg that had ended up on his doorstep sometime last night. He didn't want to be anything other than someone who took care of pokémon, but he couldn't do that without finishing his education. The Pokémon Committee did not allow the inexperienced to work their own labs or ranches. Though adoption from a care center was an option the candidate had to be able to support himself and the pokémon in question. Which led back to square one.

With this in mind Mike reached down to pick up the egg, preparing to carry it over to Professor Oak who could then transport it to the proper authorities. When his hands touched it, the egg cracked open and a small, furry pokémon rolled out. Its fur was the same color as Mike's hair, a light brown, and its eyes were also the same shade of deep brown as Mike's. As he stood there staring at the odd little creature he failed to notice that Professor Oak was walking up the road to his house. The pokémon, however, noticed Mike immediately and stared at him expectantly.

"What am I supposed to do?" Mike tried to stay calm; if anyone saw that he had hatched an egg without permission he would never be allowed to work with pokémon. He had to get it to Professor Oak before the pokémon got too attached. If he could do that and keep the pokémon calm he might be able to use it as an example of natural ability that the Committee couldn't ignore.

While all these thoughts had been going through Mike's head the baby pokémon reacted to each of the affiliated emotions in turn, finally ending up in excitement. It trilled happily as Mike's attention returned to it and started bouncing around excitedly. Professor Oak looked up, startled at the noise and saw what was happening. He quietly hid himself behind a tree to watch, unobserved.

"All right, all right," Mike was having a hard time talking and laughing at the same time. "I got it. But after I play with you, you need to do what I say ok?"Immediately the little pokémon stopped dancing about and stared at Mike, waiting. "What, am I supposed to come up with something?" The little pokémon crouched down, ready to move in any direction, staring at Mike expectantly. Mike grinned, "Fine then, the game is to see if I can catch you."

Before Mike could even react the pokémon was off, running full speed to hide behind the fence, peering around it to see if Mike was following yet. Mike stood still a moment trying to decide if this was really okay; and after scanning the road and not seeing anyone, decided that it was safe. "Alright you little fur ball, you're mine!"

After a few minutes of being chased, the pokémon dodged Mike again and then ran back towards the house. But instead of going to the house the pokémon ran over to the tree where Professor Oak was hiding and started dancing around and trilling.

"Ah! What are you-" Mike watched in amazement as Professor Oak stumbled out from behind the tree, startled by the little pokémon. Oak stood up and brushed himself off as Mike walked slowly over.

"Professor Oak?" Mike sounded a lot calmer than he felt; even though Professor Oak was a family friend, Mike could get in serious trouble for keeping a pokémon he wasn't registered to have.

"How many time have I told you to call me Gary, Mike? Professor Oak is my grandpa."

"You introduced him to me as 'Gramps', so you're just gonna have to live with him being 'Grandpa Oak' and you being 'Professor.'"

Gary smiled as they turned to walk into Mike's house, the little pokémon not far behind. "By the way Mike, you've found a very rare pokémon there."

"Huh? Really?"

Gary leaned against the doorframe and stared off to the north. "Eevee are extremely rare. They react so easily with the elements that they almost always evolve before they meet anyone. That's why hardly anyone knows about the existence of eevee."

"So, what are you gonna do about this one?"

Gary smiled at Mike as he pulled out a pokéball. "I was actually on my way here to solve a problem of yours." He laughed at the look of confusion on Mike's face. "Becoming a pokémon trainer is a good way to prove that you can handle pokémon and get a caretakers license, though I think that once you get a taste for it you're gonna want to just stay a pokémon trainer. In any case, I brought this pokéball to start you off. Inside it is your first pokémon; or at least, I thought it was gonna be. Eevee seems to have changed that."

Mike couldn't believe what he was hearing; not only was Gary letting him keep Eevee, but he had been planning on giving Mike a pokémon to begin with. Then the first thing Gary said caught his attention. "Pokémon trainer? Me?"

"Pokémon trainers are people who travel around collecting their own pokémon to raise and battle each other with. You've heard of Ash Ketchum right?" Mike nodded and Gary smiled to himself as he remembered his childhood rival. "Pallet has a way of turning out surprisingly talented trainers. Like him… and your father." The last was said so quietly that Mike wasn't sure if he was just imagining it. Gary turned to the door before a thought came to him. "Oh, the pokéball with the pokémon in it. Why don't you open it?"

Mike reached into his pocket where he had put the ball. "This one?" he said as he allowed the ball to open.

There was a surprisingly bright flash of light, and then a black lizard with a flame at the tip of its tail and a combative nature was standing in front of Mike. Mike and Gary stared at it, too stunned to move. It cocked its head as it studied Mike and then swung its tail at him. Mike was too surprised to flinch, even when the flames at the tip of the tail nearly singed his eyebrows.

The pokémon stared at Mike with renewed interest as Mike stepped over towards it. Mike knew enough from helping Grandpa Oak to realize that this one was challenging him for supremacy. He forced himself to quiet all his emotions and spoke calmly.

"That's not a very good idea. We're supposed to be partners from here on, so no more attacking me alright?" Mike's tone was even, without being too domineering or too submissive, but he also wasn't really asking a question. He knew that pokémon were extremely receptive to tone of voice.

Gary watched in approval as Mike earned the young dragon's respect, and smiled again when Eevee demanded more attention. He knew that Mike was going to do just fine, at least as far as raising his pokémon was concerned; he had yet to be tested in battle.

"One of the first rules you'll learn Mike, is that in battle not regulated by the league, there are no rules. You have to depend on your pokémon as much as they-"

"Well that's obvious Professor Oak." Gary was shocked to be cut off. Mike was normally very respective of other people. "If I can't depend on my own pokémon, how can I expect others to entrust me with their pokémon later?"

Gary blinked a few times while it sank in that the lesson he had had the hardest time learning was already ingrained into every fiber of Mike's being. He laughed a little ruefully at himself as he turned towards Mike's house again. Mike and Gary spent the next few hours getting ready for Mike's journey. Gary telling Mike about what to expect when travelling. "-and if all else fails, just listen to your pokémon. They can warn you about any naturally occurring danger nearby."

"Thank you, I'm sure that Enlil well keep me safe." At the mention of his new name, the young dragon looked up from where it had been waiting by the door. Seeing that it was nothing of importance, he resumed his waiting. As the time of departure drew nearer Mike grew more excited and anxious. He tried to hide it and would have succeeded, but Eevee was once again imitating his emotions and too young to know how to hide them, so it ended up rolling around on the ground as it didn't know what to do. After Gary and Mike shared a laugh at Eevee's expense they walked outside so Mike could start on his journey.

"Thanks again… Gary." Mike started running as he said his goodbye so that he wouldn't get caught up in the farewell. Because of this, he didn't see the tears that started to roll down Gary's face before he angrily brushed them away.

"What the hell am I doin'. I'm acting just like Ash would." Even though his words were harsh, his tone was soft. He turned his eyes back to the path just in time to see Mike, Eevee, and Enlil go over the top of the hill on the way to Viridian City. It was then that the thought struck him. He pulled the other pokéball out of his back pocket and stared in wonder at the hill that Mike had just climbed. He had intended to give Mike a squirtle, not the black charmeleon. He had been so surprised by charmeleon's appearance that by the time it registered, Mike had already tamed the charmeleon, despite its overly aggressive nature. Gary smiled as he thought that Mike really did have what it took to raise pokémon, his instincts were good. All that was left to see was whether his instincts in battle were as good.

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He paused as his bag shifted yet again. "Listen up you two. You have to stay quiet or other people are going to know that you're there." He sighed as knew that it was pointless. He pulled the scrap of metal out of his pocket again to double check that he really needed to head to Viridian City; he'd prefer to avoid big cities if he could. Just then Mars came flying back through the trees from his scouting mission. He landed in front of the young man.

"Anything?" But Mars just indicated that the way was clear. "Well that's convenient. Let's go give this Earth Co. a visit."

He waited a moment for his bag to stop shifting again before he headed out. As he approached Viridian City he thought again that they might prove to be worth the trouble. He forced himself to remember that as they shifted once again.

About an hour later, he approached his destination. He walked through the city, keeping mostly to the shadows and avoiding large crowds. As he neared the next alleyway he heard savage growling. Knowing that it was most likely just a dog pokémon defending its territory, he started to move past it so that the dog would leave him alone. Something about the growling seemed strange however, and it wasn't until he was almost past that he realized what it was that troubled him; there was more than one dog. As he turned back to investigate he heard something more alarming; the dogs were threatening a girl.

"H-help me. Someone, please help." Her voice was barely above a whimper so he hadn't heard it over the growling.

"Damned city noises are messing with my senses. Mars!" As he called for Mars to leave his reconnaissance position and aid in the fight, he was also pulling down his mask and releasing two other pokémon. "Soze, you're support. Kai, help clear away those dogs." Mars came diving down from the rooftops as Kai, an unusually nimble cubone, rushed the pack. Soze flowed into the shadows where his black scales disappeared into the darkness.

Mars and Kai hit the pack of dogs simultaneously from the masked man's side, opening a path to the girl. Just before the young man reached the girl, a burst of fire from the far side halted Mars and Kai's advance. Running in from the far side of the alley was another dog not native to the Kanto region. It knocked the pack out of the way to stand guard over the girl.

The young man was struck by the houndour's courage to face a whole pack of wild mightyena and poochyena, especially when from its position it looked like they were reinforced by Mars and Kai. He smiled to himself beneath his mask as he decided that the houndour would be his.

Sensing his wishes, Soze blasted the pack of dogs with a twister, made more devastating by the close courters. While houndour was distracted by the poochyena and mightyena struggling to get to their feet, the man ran over and grabbed the girl, pulling her past the line formed by his pokémon. When houndour finally realized what happened he charged straight at the young man.

The young man smiled again as he saw that houndour was so determined to protect the girl. As it got closer, Mars and Kai prepared for combat again. When houndour was only a couple meters away they launched their attack, taking down the pair of mightyena that had almost caught up to houndour. Seeing that the man was targeting the pack, houndour stopped his charge with a rather ungraceful skid.

"You've got talent. I could use it." Houndour hesitated a moment as it thought about becoming the man's pokémon, but then, he had just saved the girl so it nodded its head. The man dropped one of the black pokéballs at houndour's feet and waited for it to get in the ball. While Houndour was catching itself the girl hesitantly cleared her throat.

"Umm, can I at least know your name? I'd like to thank you for saving me. My name's Alexis." The girls voice was stronger, and less hesitant as she started to recover from her ordeal.

The young man thought for a moment but then decided that he shouldn't give her anything to remember him by. "I have no name."

"Thank you…Masked Man. I won't forget what you did for me."

"You're welcome." The young man was glad for his mask as he realized how beautiful the girl was, with long black hair and clear green eyes. He watched her as she walked away and then headed into the mess created by the fight. He picked up the pokéball with Rand in it and started to walk towards his original destination, trying to figure out why there were houndour, mightyena, and poochyena running around Kanto without trainers. As he passed the collapsed forms of the pack he noticed that many of them wore collars and ankle cuffs, and that one of the collars had broken off. His curiosity getting the better of him he reached down to pick it up. When he saw the symbol stamped on it he froze. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the scrap of metal he had found when he picked up the two in his pack; as he had thought, they were identical.

Soze came over to see what was going on but started shaking when he saw the symbol.

"Soze? What's up? Is it something about the symbol?" the young masked man didn't realize that Soze had yet to see the symbol as he was always watching the road for trouble whenever the man was looking at the scrap piece. Soze lifted his tail and touched the tip to the young man's forehead.

_The mountain was enveloped in the blizzard. Whatever it was that was threatening the Icy One was a major concern. The young dratini was not used to compensating for weather of this degree yet, and so was being carried by his mother to stay warm. As they headed towards the cave to find shelter from the sudden storm, Dratini saw something fall from the human made road on the mountain side. It took a moment for Dratini to realize that it was actually two human vehicles falling from the road. One of them was a car, something that Dratini already knew was a way for the humans to move faster, but the other was something foreign to him. It looked something like a whale with circular flippers and flew. Or at least Dratini saw the rest of them were flying when he looked up._

_His mother didn't pay any attention to the events until the car and whale-looking thing hit the ground and exploded. His mother looked out over to the mountain and froze. Dratini didn't know what his mother saw but suddenly they were flying to the mountain. When they got there Dratini saw that there was a human baby lying in a tree, the braches having caught the cradle. Dratini looked down at the wreckage of the car and saw a human female looking up at the dragons investigating the baby. As the light faded from her eyes she smiled at Dratini. Dratini looked away from the woman, afraid of what was happening to her and looked at the whale-thing. On the side of the broken machine was a symbol. It was a circle, with squiggly lines on it that looked somewhat like a map. And written in large letters across the circle were the five letters E, A, R, T, and H._

As the memories receded from dominating his mind, the young man's tears started falling behind his mask. He knew from pictures at his uncle's manse that the baby was him. His uncle had always said that the young man's parents were no longer around, but he never said how or why. The young man had left home in the hopes of finding clues about his parents, but now that he knew about it, he wasn't sure of what to do now.

He stared at the collar and scrap of metal in his hands. A thought came into his head. He had something he could do, he could destroy this EARTH Co. that had killed his parents. He told Mars to lead the way to the location indicated by the logo. "Let's go Soze. Let's go and pay those bastards back."

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Amar whistled a light tune as he walked north out of Viridian. The minor earthquake as he had left the city now nothing but a memory in his mind. He looked over his shoulder once to see the pillar of smoke climbing steadily higher in the sky. There was no thought in his head of the damage the earthquake had caused, or who may have been hurt in the explosion. He simply headed north, to Pewter City, where the nearest base was located.

"Is that- is that a dragon!" Amar hadn't even noticed the girls approach. A slight rustling sound was heard as something moved in the bushes and the young man looked around to see that aside from the girl he was alone. He turned to face her and stepped out of the shadows of the tree he had just walked under revealing light brown skin and dark hair with blue tips.

"Dragon? I don't see anyone here besides us." His tone was light as if he had not a single care in the world.

"I could have sworn I saw a black dragon." The girl's green eyes were looking around, trying to locate the creature she had seen just moments before.

"Black dragon? I don't think there are any black dragon's in Kanto. By the way, I'm Amar.".

"Amar? That's an interesting name. Where does it come from?" she laughed. It was a clear bell-like tone that Amar lost himself in before he knew what was happening. He snapped out of it to see her looking at him. Amar couldn't believe what was happening. He had never let a girl take control of the situation before; he was always the one who took the lead.

"Hahaha. What, does it really matter? I like my name. And besides, it's not very fair to be laughing at my name when I don't even know yours."

"I suppose you're right." Alexis looked kind of hurt, but she realized that she had been rather rude herself. "My name is Alexis. I'm trying to find the man who saved my life earlier today."

"Oh? What's he like?" Amar couldn't help himself from asking or from getting curious about her life.

"He's really strong and wants to remain anonymous."

"That's going to make it rather difficult to find him."

"I know. But it's necessary that I find him." Alexis had lost the hurt look as the conversation continued. "I inherited a bit of psychic powers from my mother and their telling me that I need to find him."

"Are they telling you why?" The bit about the psychic powers had Amar really concerned.

A strange look came over Alexis' face when he asked that question. Her eyes faded and her voice changed, sounding like it was coming from somewhere far away. "The Jakul riding the Black Dragon will bring destruction and war for the first time since the Coming."

"What's that supposed to mean? Is there any way to stop this?"

"The war will come. The fate of the world will depend on the four with the power to change his heart."

"Who is the Jakul? And all these others?"

Alexis blinked a little and her eyes were clear again. She blushed and turned slightly so she wasn't looking him straight in the eye. "Sorry, but I can't really control it right now so I can't tell you anymore than that because I don't know. I do know that the Jakul is the man who saved me though."

"We also need to find these other four." The young man's voice trailed off in thought.

"Well, it was nice seeing you, but I really need to get going. I have to get to Pewter City before too long. That's where he's heading, I can feel it."

Many thoughts rolled through Amar's head in rapid succession, ending with _I can't let her go like this._ "Well, I'm heading to Pewter too. So, if you want, we could travel together." He cursed himself as the words rushed out of his mouth, losing the calm that he prided himself on. Alexis only smiled and nodded before they gathered up the supplies she had dropped when she first appeared. Fifteen minutes later the glade was empty, and as a butterfree winged its way overhead a clear bell-like laughter could be heard echoing in the distance.

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Mike was daydreaming as he walked, letting Eevee rest on his shoulders. He didn't really notice that the path was getting narrower so lost was he in his fantasies. Enlil however, was alert, so he noticed the sound. Having never had experience with bicycles he didn't recognize the sound as tires on gravel, however, he still understood that something was approaching from behind…and fast. Enlil jumped into Mike, sending all three of them sprawling on the side of the path, with Eevee rolling into the bushes, out of sight. A few seconds later, a girl with shoulder length auburn hair whipped past on her bike.

"And she didn't even say sorry." Mike thought aloud. "Oh, well, not much to be done about it. You guys ready to go?" Eevee and Enlil had already gotten back on the path, with Eevee prancing about just as he had before taking his nap. Mike laughed at Eevee's enthusiasm. "It's good that you're all excited, but I'm not carrying you again until we reach Viridian." Eevee immediately stopped jumping and walked calmly next to Enlil. Mike laughed again as he topped the hill and saw the city in the distance.

Looking down the path, he saw the girl backed up against a tree with her bike lying broken on the ground several feet away. Trapping her against a tree was a Beedril and a bug pokémon that Mike had never seen before. Mike started running when he saw that their trainer had pulled out more pokéballs so he didn't notice that Eevee had run off into the woods. The girl kept her calm and nothing showed in her blue eyes as he shouted at her.

"Listen up girlie! You nearly ran me and my bugs over so you'd better come up with a way to make up for it! Are you listening! Fine! Experience the wrath of bugs!"

Mike had almost reached them when the guy hurled a group of five pokéballs, releasing a venerable army of bug pokémon. He had two caterpies, one weedle, another one Mike didn't know though it looked like an unevolved form of the first, a kakuna, and the two already out. Immediately after being released the group attacked the girl. Mike didn't even have to say anything as Enlil was already charging the group.

"Start with an Ember." Mike left it up to Enlil to figure out what to do after that as he ran to place himself between the girl and the oncoming pokémon. Before he had to worry about whether that was actually an intelligent idea, Enlil's attack sprayed through the group taking down all but the flyers. Only the beedril and new bug were able to fight, but they were furious at the humiliation they had just been given. They charged in too quickly for Enlil to prepare another attack and he was forced to fend them off with nothing more than fang and claw. Even though Enlil was a powerful fighter, his style was not really suited for fighting multiple enemies.

"What are you doing! You can't possibly beat them by yourself!" Mike was not expecting the girl to still be there. "Let me help!"

"You're right. I can't beat him by myself." Mike paused as she started reaching into her pack. "That's why I've got Enlil." When he turned back to the battle he saw Enlil get knocked over by the new bug.

"Yeah, Ninjask, get 'em." The bug trainer was dancing around in excitement. Mike thought that he was a rather annoying little boy.

"Well that's doing you a lot of good. He can't fight them alone!" Mike was getting very irritated with the way the girl was constantly doubting him.

"You know, this would be a lot easier if you'd just let me concentrate. Thanks." Mike didn't notice that she had completely frozen up when she saw his face. Mike then realized that Eevee had disappeared somewhere. He looked around trying to find him.

The beedril charged at Enlil as he got back to his feet. "Yeah, get him Beedril! Teach that punk the penalty of getting in my way!" The bug trainer's yell brought Mike's attention back to the fight. As Beedril got closer it moved all three of its stingers into position to attack Enlil. Enlil's back being turned, he did not notice Beedril bearing down on him.

"Enlil! Behind you!" Mike managed to call out in time for Enlil to turn, but not soon enough for him to dodge. Instead, Enlil blocked Beedril's hand stingers with his arms and blocked the bottom stinger with his foot. Unfortunately this left him completely defenseless against any attack from Ninjask; which Ninjask took full advantage of, slamming into him from behind. "Enlil!" Even though Mike knew that shouting his name wasn't going to help, he couldn't help himself. As Enlil stumbled to his feet Beedril came once again, and Mike was forced to watch helplessly as things just repeated themselves. Except that's not what the youth had in mind. Once Enlil and Beedril were looked in their struggle again, Ninjask came charging towards Mike and the girl. Unable to do anything, he readied himself to take the full force of the bugs assault, but before Ninjask could reach him a vine came whipping out of the forest, smashing Ninjask into the ground.

"Where did that come from! What did you do!" However, neither Mike nor the girl heard him as they were asking each other their own questions.

"When did you release another pokémon?"

"Guess I should've just let you help huh?"

The two stared at each other for a moment before searching their surroundings, realizing that there was another player around. Beedril also hesitated a moment as its partner got beat down, giving Enlil the time to regain his strength. The flame at the tip of his tail burned brighter as Enlil's fury built up inside of him. He opened his mouth and, instead of a spray of embers, a stream of fire came bursting out, nearly incinerating Beedril. Enlil made sure that his enemies were down, and then stumbled his way to Mike.

"Listen, the Pokémon Center is at the center of the city. I have to take care of something, but then I'll meet you there." She paused as she thought of something else. "It is kind of my fault." Mike thanked her as she left and then ran to Enlil, ignoring the other trainer as he rushed to get Enlil back into his pokéball. Mike then saw Eevee who had walked out from the woods and, forgetting his earlier statement, picked him up and started running the rest of the way to the city.

As he walked into the city proper, looking for the Pokémon Center at the center of the city, the earth shook with a violent explosion. Mike made sure Eevee was secure on his shoulders and resumed walking towards the center of the city, thankful that Enlil was already back in his pokéball where he was resting. It took him a little bit to realize that the smoke from the explosion was rising from the center of the city, the direction that the Center was supposed to be in.

"Son of a-" Mike stopped midsentence as he started a steady trot. As he neared the site of the explosion he heard the anticipated noises of the police and fire departments trying to gain control.

"Get those fires under control!"

"Where's the Wartortle Unit? We need them to put out the fires inside the building!"

"Why haven't the hounds found anything yet? We need a scent to track the culprit!"

Mike was looking for a way to circle the mess when he heard something else.

"What? You'll have to speak up to be heard over all this mess."

"I found this girl trying to sneak away with her broken bike." _Broken bike?_ Mike moved closer so he could hear them better.

"I wasn't sneaking I was limping. I think I sprained something when the explosion knocked me over." Mike was surprised to hear the voice of the girl that he had rescued, but he was more surprised by the way she sounded like she was about to cry.

"Sorry that we can't just take your word for it. But unless someone can vouch for you you're going to have to come with us."

"What? I can't do that! I have to get to the Pokémon Center-"

"That's enough miss. Just be quiet and come with us to the station."

Mike knew that he was going to have to act fast if he was going to save her. He just hoped they believed him. "Excuse me, but she really does have to get to the Pokémon Center. We were gonna meet there for our date." Mike did his best to look like an embarrassed teenager as he walked over to the girl and put his arm around her. "The explosion kinda put a whole in my plans though." Mike laughed nervously, hoping that the officers would take it as embarrassment.

"If you were going to meet your boyfriend you could have just said so." The officer's tone had changed completely, no longer hostile he was just trying to get back to his duty.

"Like you would have believed me." The girl spoke softly so her words were lost to everyone but Mike who was right next to her. The officer took it as an embarrassed agreement and dismissed them. After they got around a corner and were sure they weren't being followed, Mike took his arm from around her shoulders as they stopped.

"Sorry about that. It was the first thing I could think of." Eevee jumped from Mike's shoulders to the girl's and started rubbing his cheek against hers. She reached up to pet Eevee as she started walking, but only managed to take one step before nearly collapsing. Mike caught her and then hesitated a moment, unsure if what he was about to do would be okay.

"Sorry, but I don't think you're gonna be able to walk." As he spoke, he maneuvered her so he could carry her on his back.

"It's fine. I seem to be thanking you a lot. And I haven't even apologized yet for almost running you over on the road." Mike laughed as he lifted her, impressed that she knew it was him she had sent off the path. "Or maybe I don't need to since you think it was so funny." Her tone was a little icy as she turned her attention forward and ignored him, leaving Mike to wonder if she really wasn't angry while he carried her to the pokémon center.

When they finally reached the pokémon center, after stopping at an aid station set up to help the injured, they discovered that it was completely packed with people. Mike helped her to sit on a bench and then turned to face her to discuss what to do when he realized he had no idea what her name was. After a bit of an awkward pause Mike introduced himself.

"I'm Mike, the one on your shoulder is Eevee, and the guy resting after the battle is Enlil. I'm heading out to challenge the Pokémon League to prove myself a capable handler of pokémon. My dream is to open up a place where people can come and live alongside pokémon." Mike stalled a little as he saw the girl smiling and then got embarrassed as he realized what he was doing. "Sorry, I guess I kinda got carried away."

The girl laughed and looked happy for the first time since Mike had met her, her blue eyes finally had some sparkle back. "It's fine, your sincerity is cute. Is Mike short for Michael?" Mike nodded, though his spirit fell a little as he was called cute but tried to keep it hidden. "I'm Clarissa, and I have Kitsune and Hinote for companions." At Mike's look of confusion she laughed again as she realized her mistake. "Sorry, a vulpix and flareon respectively. I have to say, your charmeleon is really impressive, he was managing to fight off two powerful pokémon by himself."

Mike grinned as he placed a hand on Enlil's ball. "Careful, if he hears you his ego's gonna explode." Clarissa laughed again. "Well, this place is kind of a mess, and Enlil just needs some rest," Mike trailed off as he realized that he was starting to like being around Clarissa. He wanted to stay near her if possible. "Did you finish what you had to do?"

Clarissa laughed again, he wasn't sure what was happening, but he knew he was not prepared for it. "You could say that, yes." Then she got a mischievous look on her face, "But if you want to find out then you have offer me something in exchange."

Mike hesitated for a moment, trying to decide if she might go with him. Just as he decided it was probably a bad idea to ask, Eevee looked at Mike and then settled into the space between Clarissa's neck and shoulder and Mike found himself getting jealous. Mike struggled to regain control of his thoughts. If he didn't force himself to concentrate he started thinking about Clarissa and Mike had to stop himself before he went any further in his thoughts of her. He decided that it would be best if he went for it; if he got in trouble with Professor Oak, then he got in trouble, no use complaining about it.

"You could, come with me? Maybe. If you wanted to." Mike was so nervous that he didn't realize how badly he was stumbling. And to make it even worse, Clarissa had started to stare at the ground, deep in thought; though Mike had no idea that's what was happening. Eevee sensed Mike's spirit start to fall and trilled to get Clarissa's attention.

"Huh? What? Oh! Did you say something Mike? I'm sorry, I was thinking about something." Clarissa's cheeks reddened due to her embarrassment. "I really am sorry. And I know this will sound selfish, especially since I wasn't listening to you just now, but," Clarissa took a deep breath to calm herself and then started over again. "Would you let me travel with you?"

Mike froze for a moment, trying to figure out if she was just playing with him. "Really? What a great idea! I wish I had thought of it. Oh wait, that's what you didn't hear." To let Clarissa know that he was just teasing her he stuck his tongue out at her.

Clarissa at first looked hurt, quickly followed by anger and shock, and then ended up laughing. Mike's heart skipped again when she smiled; he had always known the difference between boys and girls, but it had never really mattered to him until now. Clarissa reached up and grabbed Eevee, pulling him off her shoulder and into her arms.

"Careful, I came here to find Eevee's trainer. And if you keep talking like that I might decide to keep him." Eevee trilled and licked Clarissa's cheek but then shook his head and looked at Mike. Clarissa was stunned for a moment, but then started laughing, if a little ruefully. "So you like me, but Michael is your trainer. Is that it?" Eevee trilled happily and licked her again. "Alright, I get it! Stop! That tickles!" She started giggling as Eevee jumped back to her shoulder and rubbed his cheek against hers.

"Alright, that's enough Eevee. She'll be with us for a while, so try and spread out your affections," Mike paused and then smiled evilly at Eevee, "or she might get bored with you."

Clarissa gasped in mock horror as she once again pulled Eevee into her arms. "Michael, how could you think I could get bored with a pokémon as cute as this one. He's almost as cute as my Kitsune."

Mike couldn't tell if it was her agreeing to go with him or the way she said his name that was making him feel so good. Either way, he was happier than he could remember so he almost missed what she had said earlier. "Ryss, what do you mean by you came to find Eevee's trainer?"

Clarissa stopped playing with Eevee and looked at Mike with a serious intensity that he had not seen before. "Ryss?"

"Sorry, it's a habit of mine. Is it bad?"

Clarissa smiled, though she tried to hide it by playing with Eevee again. "No, I wouldn't say it's bad. Just that no one's ever called me that before."

Mike didn't realize he had been holding his breath until he released it. "So, about Eevee's trainer?"

She reached into her pack and pulled out a collection of pokéballs and an electronic device. "My uncle said that if you were going to take on the Pokémon League you would first have to beat the gym leaders. And if you want to do that then you need to catch more pokémon." Clarissa smiled as Mike took the items. The electronic device especially caught his attention, though it was only after he had made a mental note that Clarissa had many different smiles.

"Ryss, what is this thing?"

"It's called a Pokédex, and it has information about a lot of pokémon in it. Even ones from other regions such as ninjask and nincada."

Mike opened up the Pokédex to discover a screen with many menus. He stood there staring at them all for a while without having any idea of what to do. After a few more seconds, Clarissa started laughing again.

"God, you're hopeless. Here, I'll give you the full tutorial as we travel." Mike pocketed the items and got Clarissa back onto his back. "My house is nearby so we can rest there before starting tomorrow. Besides, my uncle wants you to contact him."

"That's twice now that you've mentioned your uncle. Who is he?"

Clarissa stared at Mike as though stunned. "How do you not know who my uncle is? He's the one who gave you Enlil!"

Mike almost dropped her from the shock. He turned his head to look at her. "You're _Gary's_ niece! Gary _has_ a niece! Why have I never met you before?"

Clarissa smiled again, though it was a smile that Mike wasn't sure that he liked. "Because, I live in Viridian, and you live in Pallet."

"Well, sure, but I'm talking about when you visited Gary and Grandpa Oak."

This time Clarissa's smile made Mike's heart beat faster as there was a slight blush to her cheeks. "Oh, well, we only go out there once a year. And it's not always at the same time." Mike was starting to feel better as he realized that it was not because he was stupidly blind that he had never seen her before. The road was getting crowded so he started looking forward again. "And the one time I could talk to you, you were so busy with the vulpix pups that you didn't know I was there." Clarissa's voice was too soft for Mike to even know she had spoken, though Eevee heard it quite clearly from his spot on her shoulder.

"So the reason we never saw each other was just a result of timing. That's just unlucky then." Mike had no idea that Eevee was attempting to make Clarissa feel better.

"Yeah, that is." Clarissa's voice choked a bit as she spoke.

"Ryss? Is your leg alright? I'm not holding it too tight am I?"

"No, no you're fine. You want to take a right here."

"Alright, let me know if you need anything." Clarissa just nodded as Mike turned on the street indicated and headed to her house.

"Dummy." Her voice was almost too quiet for even Eevee to hear.


	2. Chapter 2

"So Clarissa found you okay?" Gary was staring out of the Telescreen that was connected to the Oak Lab in Pallet Town.

Mike looked over his shoulder to make sure that Clarissa wasn't there before he grinned back at Gary. "Found is the nice way of putting it. She nearly ran me over before she knew it was me she was looking for."

Gary smiled briefly before he resumed speaking. "Did she give you the items?"

"Yeah, and we're resting here at her house for the night before we leave tomorrow."

Gary nodded as he turned and reached behind him for something. "Alright, good." He shifted through a few items before dropping everything he was holding. "Did you say 'we?'"

"Yeah, Ms. Daisy's fine with it. Why? Is it a problem?"

"She's not ready to go on a journey of her own yet. She's too kind-hearted to allow her pokémon to suffer while trying to protect her." Gary sighed as he started gathering everything he had dropped. "Though she's too stubborn to listen to reason." Gary smiled as he looked back up into the telescreen. "She'd be real mad if she found out you told me she was going with you."

"Does that mean you've given up and will let her go?" Both Gary and Mike flinched as Daisy, Gary's sister and Clarissa's mother, walked into the room. "You and Ash had your own problems as you left. Part of the journey is growing as a person." She rested a hand on Mike's shoulder as she leaned forward and pointed a finger at the screen. "She's not yours Gary, so just let her go. Besides, she has Mike here to protect her. Right?" She said as she turned a smile to Mike, but the slight squeeze she unconsciously gave his shoulder let him know that she was worried.

"Don't worry, Ms. Daisy. I won't let anyone hurt her."

Gary sighed as he realized that he had lost. "If her father were home…" at the warning look on Daisy's face he backed off. "Fine then. Mike, I had actually intended to give you a squirtle, not Enlil. One of the pokéballs that Clarissa brought you should have him in it."

Mike's face lit up in excitement as he dug through his pocket where he had put the balls. His hand found them and he started feeling them to see if there was one that was different. He was just about to give up and ask when he touched one that felt cooler than the others. He was suddenly reminded of lounging on the beach, enjoying the feel of the ocean nearby. "This one!" he declared as he released the pokéball.

Mike was better prepared so he wasn't quite as startled by the bright flash of light as the squirtle appeared before him. It blinked a few times, then stretched, and then finally looked up at Mike as it's face split into a large grin. "Squirtle!"

Mike laughed as he was assaulted by a light stream of water. "Hey! Stop that! I'm getting wet!"

"What's going on?" Clarissa came around the corner just as Mike dodged another squirt so it hit her in the face.

Mike and Squirtle both froze as they waited to see what Clarissa's reaction would be. Clarissa wiped the water from her face, and then locked eyes with Mike and smiled with just her mouth while her eyes glared at him. This smile was one that Mike knew instinctively meant trouble. "Michael, I suggest you start working on training your squirtle so that it doesn't find it amusing to squirt people in the face."

Mike and Squirlte looked at each other, back to Clarissa and then to each other again. "I think we're in trouble."

"Squirt." Squirtle nodded in agreement.

"Maybe we should apologize."

"Squirt." Squirtle nodded in agreement.

"How do you think we should apologize?"

"Squirtle." Squirtle said crossing his arms and nodding his head. "Squirt!" As he said the last he opened his mouth and blasted Mike with a stream of water strong enough to knock him off his feet.

"Argh, Squirtle! What was that…for?" Mike lost all his anger as he saw that Clarissa was laughing. He looked over to Daisy and Gary and saw that they were also laughing. After a while the conversation returned to more serious topics.

"Clarissa, how did you know something was going on? It didn't seem like we were all that loud." Gary's question seemed plain enough, but there was a certain directness to it that no one but Mike seemed to catch.

"Eevee started getting hyper." She said simply. She smiled as Eevee ran over and started sniffing at Squirtle. "His emotions seem directly tied to Michael's so I knew that if Eevee was getting excited for no apparent reason than something was happening with Michael."

"Just as I thought." Gary said contemplatively. "Mike."

"Yeah?"

Gary stared through the screen straight into Mike's eyes. "Don't let Eevee get caught by the elements. I've seen a few eevee before, but yours seems different. I believe it may evolve into something new as long as it's protected."

"Well, that's up to Eevee. I'd love to help you with your research Professor, but I'm not gonna force my pokémon to do anything they don't want to."

Gary stared at Mike for a moment, speechless, until Clarissa limped over and slipped an arm into Mike's as she leaned her head on Mike's shoulder and smiled back at him.

"See, Uncle. I told you he was different."

Mike looked at her with confusion. "What do you mean, Ryss? We never met before today."

"No, but she's seen you. She was too shy to approach you though."

"Mom!" Clarissa cried. "How could you say that!" Daisy smiled apologetically, and Mike realized that it wasn't just Clarissa that had many smiles.

"When was this?" Gary was also confused and didn't know what the girls were talking about.

"Don't worry about it Uncle. It doesn't matter. And Michael, nothing from you either." Mike just smiled in response, deciding that it wasn't a battle worth fighting.

"Well, now that everything has all been thrown into chaos, it's time we all got some rest."

"Wait a sec Professor. Which gym should I go after first?"

Gary smiled as he thought about it. "Go to Pewter first."

"Pewter? But isn't there a gym here?"

Clarissa pulled on Mike's arm to get him moving towards the stairs and their rooms. "Yes, but you're nowhere near ready to fight the Viridian gym."

"Why not?" Mike was getting frustrated now since it seemed like everyone else knew something that he didn't. It didn't help any that Clarissa and Gary just smiled instead of answering.

"Oh, you two. Stop teasing the poor boy." Daisy turned to Mike and Clarissa as they neared the stairs. "It's because Gary is the gym leader, and he refuses to acknowledge anyone unless they beat him. And no one but Ash has beaten him since he took on the role, and that was an exhibition battle."

The forest was calm the next day as they walked along together, Clarissa's limp was all but gone. Eevee was scampering along the path, energetic as usual, and this time had a play partner in Poseidon.

"It really is a fitting name now that I think about it."

"What is?"

"Poseidon" Clarissa said as she smiled at Mike. "The amount of water he shot at you when he was trying to make me feel better was incredible."

"I know" Mike said dryly. "I thought I was gonna be wet for a week." As he spoke, Mike calmly leaned to the side, avoiding the stream of water that Poseidon had just shot his way. "Don't forget you're only allowed to target the face!" Mike called out as Poseidon pouted and Eevee trilled.

Clarissa was also smiling as she saw that Mike's training idea was working. Poseidon was a bit of a prankster, so Mike had decided to utilize that. He had created a game for Poseidon where he was allowed to shoot as many streams as he wanted, whenever he wanted, so long as he only targeted the face. It kept Poseidon entertained and at the same time improved his aim tremendously.

"It's amazing how well the two of you get along since you just met."

"Yeah, but I only met Enlil and Eevee a week earlier you know."

"How is he?"

"He's doing better. He no longer hurts, he's just sore." Mike smiled as he rested his hand on Enlil's ball. "But he's as frustrated as I am that we did so poorly and so he's sulking."

Clarissa smiled and laughed softly as she leaned forward so she was on eye level with Enlil's ball. "Come on Mr. Sourpuss. Hiding in there won't make things any better. Getting out and stretching your legs will make you stronger though." Mike felt the heat that was ever present in Enlil's ball grow before it popped open and Enlil was walking in front of them. "So good of you to join us. The air is wonderful isn't it?" Enlil just kept walking, pretending not to hear Clarissa, which caused them to smile.

"By the way, Ryss" Mike waited until Clarissa gave him her full attention. "Why have you never let Kitsune and Hinote out?"

Clarissa froze, and looked as if she had just run into a brick wall. "They-" She paused as if not sure what she wanted to say next. "They're shy" she finished quietly.

Mike stood there for a moment, trying to decide whether this was something he needed to press when he got hit full force by Poseidon's Water Gun, knocking him off his feet. As he laid there trying to remember what the license plate on that bus was, Clarissa came over laughing as his pokémon came over looking concerned.

"Well, I did say it was ok as long as you targeted the face. Though that was more of the back of my head but, whatever." He looked over to see that Poseidon was still worried and so gave him a smile. "That was a nice shot Poseidon."

"Squirtle!" he said happily.

"Thanks Enlil" Mike said as he was helped to his feet. "All right. It's another two days to Pewter. Let's get goin'."Clarissa smiled at him again as they started walking along the path again. They hadn't taken three steps before the air was rent by a scream. Mike broke out into a run with Eevee and Enlil close behind. Clarissa picked up Poseidon as she ran to catch up. By the time she reached the clearing where the scream had come from, Mike was already in the middle of a battle.

"Enlil! Flamethrower left!" As Mike commanded Enlil turned his head and fired at the quickly approaching mightyena. It jumped back, out of the way of the fire, but it's advance had been stopped. "Close! Right!" Listening to Mike's command, Enlil spun, lashing out with his tail to his immediate right. This time it connected, sending the mightyena flying.

"Michael!" Clarissa threw Poseidon towards Mike as she approached and took a look at the situation. A young female officer was pinned against a tree, her blonde hair falling out of its bun, with three growlithe standing between her and the mightyenas, all of them but the large growlithe in the middle looking worn out.

"What are they Ryss? I don't have time to look them up!" Mike cursed as he dodged a mightyena that lunged at him, kicking it under the jaw and knocking it out. "Poseidon, you've got defense! Hit anything that gets close!"

"Mightyena, a dark type dog native to Hoen." She looked around trying to find Eevee, but didn't see him anywhere. "Where's Eevee?"

"Hell if I know. He disappeared last time too. Enlil, charge forward! Get to the girl!" Enlil nodded his understanding then lifted his head and roared. It was a startling battle cry that was worthy of the dragon he would one day become. The mightyena shrank back, intimidated by the sound and allowed Enlil to rush forward and join the growlithe defending the girl. Deciding that four fire pokémon was too much trouble, the entire pack of mightyena turned their attention to Mike and Clarissa.

"Ryss, step back slowly. Get to a tree and climb it."

"What about you?"

Mike turned slightly so she could she him smile at her. "I promised the professor and Daisy that I wouldn't let anything happen to you." He turned back to the mightyena, in part to be ready and in part so that she wouldn't see he was nervous.

Clarissa listened and backed up until her back hit a tree, then she turned and began climbing desperately. As soon as her back was turned the pack charged howling at Mike and Poseidon. Mike grabbed a stick that he could use as a club and put a hand on Poseidon's head. "Remember Poseidon, the face." There was then no more time for talking as the pack had reached them. Mike risked a glance to see if Clarissa had reached safety and was relieved to see that she was higher than the mightyena could reach. He then allowed no other thoughts than the immediate disposal of the enemies around him.

Clarissa watched in horror as the mightyena began to overwhelm Mike and Poseidon. They had set up a good defense, with Mike in front whacking them with his club and Poseidon shooting them from a distance, but it was only a matter of time before they could no longer keep up with the numbers. She knew she had to help. But she didn't know what would happen if she just tried battling with no practice. She didn't have the reckless confidence that Mike had. Mike's yell brought her back to the fight. Her heart leapt to her throat as she saw his arm disappear into the mouth of one of the mightyena. "Fucking violent rabid beast! Leggo of my arm!" She watched as he clubbed the mightyena behind the ear, knocking it senseless, and turn just in time to reach the one that had jumped at him while he was preoccupied. She knew that if she didn't help him now, she would never be able to trust herself enough to fight.

"Damn it! Hinote! Fire Spin!" Hinote leapt through the air as she unleashed a ferocious fire storm that engulfed the center of the clearing.

Mike stared in stunned awe as the intense heat evaporated all of the sweat on his body instantly. The few mightyena that had escaped being caught in the inferno ran as fast as their legs could carry them.

Clarissa practically fell out of the tree as she rushed to get to Mike's side. "Michael! Are you okay? I saw the dog bite you…" She trailed off as Poseidon rinsed Mike's arm off for him and saw that the wounds weren't that bad.

He turned to her and smiled, embers drifting past reflecting off his hair. "Don't worry about it. I got lucky I guess. I was trying to punch it so my arm went into its throat and it couldn't close its jaws." He turned back to the inferno that was just starting to die down. "That aside though, holy shit. I had no idea you had that much power. Is this the real reason you keep them hidden?"

Clarissa blushed at the awkward compliment. "Yes, for Hinote anyway. Kitsune stays hidden for a different reason."

"Ah-huh. Wow" Mike turned all of sudden and grinned like a child that just pulled a successful prank. "Enlil's gotta be furious."

Caught completely off guard by the pure delight stamped on Mike's face, the only thing Clarissa could do was laugh in stunned relief. He was okay. That was the only thing that mattered to her at the moment. Neither of them noticed the mightyena that limped through the dying flames towards them until it was smashed down by a vine that whipped through the trees.

They both jumped and stared at it, Poseidon and Hinote looking around to see if there were anymore. But the only thing that came out of the woods was a trilling Eevee. Mike and Clarissa looked at each other as Enlil lead the young female officer and her growlithe through the last bits of the fire storm.

"That's the second time."

"And you said Eevee disappeared last time too?"

"Yeah" Mike said looking down at Eevee. "Just what are you?" But Eevee just trilled in response and blinked its large eyes.

"Excuse me, but you two are the ones I have to thank for saving me, yeah?"

Mike and Clarissa turned to see that the young female officer was right behind them. "I suppose so, though I'm afraid we're not much of a rescue team" Mike said.

The officer smiled as she rested her hands on the two smaller growlithe. "I'd say you did a pretty good job. I was transporting new hounds to the Viridian division when I got attacked by that pack."

"Then it's a good thing we showed up" Clarissa said smiling. She paused a moment before changing the topic. "It seems we are all rather fond of fire types." Mike looked around to see that, except for Eevee and Poseidon, all the pokémon were fire type. And Eevee could evolve into a flareon.

The girl officer laughed. "Yeah, though I don't get to use them yet. I want to join the Hound Squads, but that takes a long time."

"Only until you've proven yourself capable of handling them." Mike said. "They must have high hopes for you or they wouldn't even let you manage them for transport."

Clarissa looked at Mike with a pleased but surprised smile. "Well, look at you, Mr. Knowledgeable."

Mike laughed. "I told you didn't I? All I ever wanted was to be with pokémon, so I looked into any and all professions where I could do that."

The girl officer laughed again. "What? You too? I thought I was the only one my age that was still crazy about pokémon and didn't just see them as useful. I'm glad I was wrong."

A smile slowly spread across Mike's face until it nearly split it in two. "Mike" he said extending his hand. "It's a real pleasure to meet a kindred spirit."

"Jenna" she said taking his hand, also smiling from ear to ear. Suddenly she was hugging him and he found himself hugging her back. "You have no idea how sad I've been listening to all the other officers talking about the hounds as if they have no souls."

Mike shook his head sadly. "Oh, I can imagine. All the kids back in school talked the same way."

The large growlithe forestalled any further talk as it took an aggressive posture before Enlil and started growling. All three of them turned in shock, not having expected any more trouble. Enlil, frustrated by Hinote's display of power, also took an aggressive posture as the two powerful fire type pokémon readied to vie for dominance.

"Oh shit! Not him again." At Clarissa's look of confusion Jenna explained. "He's always gotta be the biggest and the best. He hates it when there's anyone stronger than him." She stopped and stared as Mike walked forward to stand in the middle of the two aggressive pokémon. "Wha-?"

"Leave him." Clarissa said with a soft smile. "He can handle himself and he was the one who hatched this little guy." The last she said as she bent down to pick up Eevee. "He has an almost scary ability when it comes to handling pokémon."

Jenna and Clarissa watched as Mike turned first to Enlil. "Stand down Enlil. Now is not the time." Before even waiting to see if Enlil would listen he turned to the growlithe. "You too. Stand down." The growlithe stepped down a little from its aggressive stance, but it continued growling. Mike leaned forward and stared directly into the growlithe's eyes, unblinking. After a short staring contest, the growlithe backed down completely and lay on the ground with its tongue out, panting.

"Well, well. And here I thought that no one but Hound Chiefs could break an untrained hound." They all turned at the approach of the new person, who they soon saw to be another female officer.

"Auntie Jenny!" Jenna said with obvious delight.

"You're in uniform Trainee Jenna." The words were strict, but Jenny was smiling, also pleased. "I had heard that there was a pack of wild mightyena in the area and was on my way to investigate when I saw that large blast of fire. I'm glad you are all safe."

Jenny walked over to the large growlithe with her own arcanine in tow. She stopped nearby and whistled sharply, bringing the growlithe to its feet. "You've earned my respect young man. And the respect of this growlithe. If you can defeat him, he's yours."

The three of them stared in stunned shock at Jenny. "Are you sure about that Aun- I mean, ma'am?"

Jenny smiled over at Jenna. "As the Hound Chief of Viridian I get to do what I wish with the hounds. And since it's obvious that this one is fond of the young man here, I think it only fair to give him a chance to go with the young man. Don't you agree?"

Jenna could only nod, blinking her blue eyes as her blonde hair fell further out of the bun.

Clarissa looked on in concern, wondering what Mike would do. She didn't know why it bothered her so much that he and Jenna were getting along so well, but it did.

Mike smiled with a very hungry look to it. He stepped back and placed his hand on Enlil's shoulder, which reached up to Mike's chest at five feet. He gave the muscles there a slight squeeze and leaned down to whisper into Enlil's ear. "Now is the time. Let's go all out."

Poseidon and Hinote sat at Clarissa's feet while Eevee rested in her arms as she stood back with Jenna to watch the fight.

"All right Mike? If it gets unsafe we'll stop. Whichever pokémon runs out of strength first loses."

"Very well. Enlil, you're up."

They stood, motionless, waiting for the moment that would be best. Mike jumped out with the first move. "Flamethrower!"

Jenny said nothing and just waited for the fire to die down. Growlithe stood there, uninjured, and his fur glowed a bright red. "Did you forget? You're dealing with someone who deals exclusively with fire dogs. I know everything about them."

"I know" Mike said with smile. "I'm very aware that you are the most respected Hound Chief in Kanto. And I also know that if he doesn't discharge those extra flames soon he's gonna burn."

Jenny looked in surprise to see that Growlithe's fur was no longer glowing, but shining, emitting a red light of its own.

"Oh shi-" The rest was lost in the resulting explosion as all of the absorbed fire had no release. Growlithe staggered a few steps before toppling over. Jenny stared in amazement at the unconscious form of the large growlithe before turning her attention to Mike. "I guess I should've been paying attention to the battle instead of flaunting my experience."

Mike smiled as he placed his hand on Enlil's shoulder. "I was counting on you to be confident in your experience and to try and make this a lesson for me. I knew that was my only chance, to catch you off guard before you knew the strength of my attack. If we were to go for a second round I wouldn't stand a chance, you would know exactly how much time you had before the fire built to strong."

"However, a loss is a loss. Growlithe is yours. He won't make a fuss either. We let them do what their bodies need in a fight so he was surprised by your strength as well. He knows we lost."

"Still, I don't think we would have won if you had been fighting with a hound you trained personally."

"I wouldn't even think of letting you take a hound I had trained personally" Jenny said with a smile.

Clarissa released the breath she hadn't even realized she was holding and smiled at Mike. The smile turned sickly when she saw that Jenna had already run up and thrown her arms around Mike's neck.

"You did it! You actually beat Auntie Jenny! I didn't think it was possible" She said laughing. She stopped as she saw that Jenny was staring at them with intensity, removed her arms and took a step back, readjusting her clothes and straightening her hair as best as she could. "I'm impressed. You did a good job. It's a shame you aren't aiming to join the ranks of the Hound Squads, but we all have our own paths."

"Yes, and yours is not here yet Jenna." Jenna looked up in shock as Jenny walked over. "I hereby give you leave of absence until such time as you feel ready to demonstrate your ability to join the ranks of the Hound Squads." As tears started to well up in Jenna's eyes Jenny wrapped her in hug. "I said not yet, Jenna. Go with him, I know you want to and I know it will help you mature into a wonderful woman." She looked at Mike over Jenna's shoulder. "That's assuming it's okay with you?"

Mike smiled and then turned to Clarissa. "Ryss? I can't make a decision like this on my own."

Clarissa smiled back at Mike, relief flooding through her that he thought she was important, not realizing that her smile was completely melting Mike's heart. "Another companion sounds fun. It will make things more interesting."

Mike laughed as his brain functions returned to normal. "What, am I not entertaining enough by myself?" He turned to Jenny and Jenna and extended his hand. "Welcome to the group Jenna" was all that he said but it had Jenna crying in his arms anyway.

Clarissa felt another flash of jealousy but shoved it down. Eevee, who had been watching everything, turned and licked Clarissa's cheek.

When everyone was ready to go, and the remaining growlithe were with Jenny, they said their good-byes and headed off.

"Oh, before I forget" Jenny called out causing them to turn, "Don't forget to visit your aunt in Pewter. I'll let her know to give you your first pokémon."

"Thanks Auntie Jenny! I love you!"

"You're still in uniform!" Jenny shouted back with love.

"That took a rather long time." The quiet statement was something that Amar found oddly soothing. It was always a truth, and usually obvious, but instead of being annoying it helped him to organize his thoughts.

"So it did. It took us longer because these two decided to go exploring. We lost two days because of that."

"Stop being so grumpy about it Amar. Just admit that if you played with them more, they wouldn't feel the need to create games of their own."

"But Alexis-"

"I know, I know, you want to discipline them so they can help you with your mission. But they're still young. Let them be children for now." As she spoke Alexis reached out to the two young pokémon and brought them into her arms. "What did you say they were again?"

"A very rare specious due to their hyper reactive nature. Eevee." Realizing that Amar was talking about them they turned in her arms to look at him. They were not hard to tell apart as they both had distinctive markings. Jasper, the calmer one that always seemed to know what was going on, had a white spot between his ears. And Jace the wilder one that was always running around getting into trouble, never seemed able to keep his fur smooth; it was always bunched up in tufts. "If they are exposed to too much of any given element they will react to the element and evolve."

"I wonder if you would mind letting me enjoy some time in Pewter?"

Amar turned away from the cliff overlooking Pewter to look at Alexis in confusion. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, I don't think the Jakul's going to just pass through. And I'd like the chance to explore a city for once." She paused briefly. "I've just been following my powers up until now."

"Don't worry about it, really. It's no problem at all." Amar forced himself to slow down, trying to quell the disappointment he had felt at the thought of her leaving. "Besides, I don't really have to go right away."

"You can't stay with me all the time."

"I know, but, I can at least keep you out of trouble while I'm around."

Alexis smiled and stood up, still holding the eevee. She turned and started walking down the path, looking back over her shoulder at Amar. "Are you coming?"

The young man shook his head as he smiled and started following her.

A few hours later Amar and Alexis were enjoying a lunch at one of the restaurants in town before heading over to the gym.

"I still don't see why you're so excited about the gyms."

"Why wouldn't I be? It's an entire organization built around testing your strength. It's perfect!" Alexis let the matter drop. It wasn't often that Amar got this excited about something so she figured she'd just let it go. "Anyway, let's go. I want to see what a real gym is like. I haven't seen a gym battle before."

"So, you only see Pokémon as tools?"

"What? Of course not. They aren't tools, they're partners. and I want to see partners when they are as strong as they can be."

"Thank you." Alexis smiled in relief. "I was starting to get worried, but I see there was no need."

Amar blinked in confusion for a moment before realizing that he had very nearly done something very stupid. He made a mental note to never speak without thinking again. "Well, if there's anything else you want to do, let's go do it. If I need to wait another day to go to the gym then I will." He smiled at her. "Let's go have some more fun first." Alexis smiled and held out her hand, her bell-like laughter cutting through some of the background noise of the city.

0000000000000000

A few hours later, as the sun was starting to set a masked man entered the Pewter City gym. For a brief moment as he entered he froze, hands on his pokéballs ready to enter combat before he realized that the giant rock monster in front of him was a statue of the rock snake onyx. He relaxed and stepped under the massive head, wondering if it was supposed to be the likeness of a live onyx.

"That is a life size statue of my strongest onyx. My first onyx evolved into a steelix but this one, he remembers the pride of stone. Onyx is my most powerful pokémon and my closest friend. Do you understand what this means young man?"

The young man smiled as the voice from the dark finished speaking. "It means that I not only have to defeat the physical strength of Onyx, but also the power that the bond you share gives him."

The lights came on, illuminating the battlefield and a muscular, tanned man with narrow eyes. The man smiled. "Well said. My name is Brock and I am the leader of this gym. How many badges do you possess?"

"None."

"Then I apologize, but I cannot let you fight against Onyx. Before you complain it is a regulation of the Pokémon League. Regardless of your strength, as this is your first gym battle I am only to test your worthiness to enter the League."

"Fine, what are the rules?"

"It will be a three on three match. If a pokémon is unable to battle, as determined by a League Official, then that pokémon loses and is forbidden to reenter the battle. You, as the challenger, are allowed to make substitutions as you see fit. I cannot. Any questions?"

"How strong are the pokémon that you're going to send at me?"

Brock smiled. "All of my pokémon are worthy of entering the Pokémon League. But I am merely trying to test whether _you_ are worthy of taking on the challenge. Come! Show me the bond between you and your pokémon!"

The young man smiled behind his mask and released all of his pokémon. "Battle time! Kai! Rand! Mars!" The three pokémon took up positions around the masked man; Kai in front, palming one of his bones, Rand at his side, growling as flames licked the edges of his mouth, and Mars in back, hovering as his wings beat the air with his large scythe-like hands held ready.

"Good luck Masked Man!" He looked up to see Alexis sitting in the stands with the eevee in her lap. He couldn't tell if she said anything else because the other fans suddenly erupted in sound, though he did see her glancing around as if she were looking for someone.

"Hang in there newbie!"

"Show him what it's all about Brock!"

"Don't be disappointed by a loss, kid!"

"You can still earn approval even if you lose!"

"Nice pokémon kid! You'll be at disadvantage based on type but they look healthy!"

"It seems that I'm getting more cheers even though this is your home." The young man was briefly surprised by his magnified voice, but quickly adjusted.

"You'll find that in most places. While the League is an extremely competitive arena, we respect each and every person worthy of entering. And we encourage the youth to join. Battles such as these keep people from turning violent."

The young man suddenly felt sick about what he had done at Viridian, but he had sworn vengeance on those that had killed his parents and he wasn't about to stop. Instead he just decided that he would fight with honor and respect anytime he wasn't fighting EARTH. He forced all thoughts to stop as the official walked onto the field.

"This will be a three on three match! The challenger may substitute at any time! Ready? Begin!" The official stepped back quickly to his box which then elevated to where he could see the entire field. A necessity since the field was strewn with boulders and rocks of all sizes.

"Mars, you're first." The young man grinned behind his mask. This was getting exciting. Mars nodded and flew up over the young man's head and landed on the largest boulder in the center of the field.

"Golem! Reveal yourself." Mars leaped into the air as the boulder he was standing on suddenly uncurled into a massive golem. Normally barely four feet tall, this one stood at almost six. It's massive arms stretched out and grabbed a couple nearby boulders. "Let's see how in sync you are with your Scyther! Golem!"

"Golem!" The golem started hurling rocks and boulders of various size at Mars, forcing him to fly around and dodge. One particularly massive boulder forced Mars to go to ground in order to avoid it.

"Are you not even going to command your scyther?"

"There's no need to command him to dodge. It's only when it's time to strike that I need to order him." The young man blinked and then realized what it was that he was seeing. Mars had a perfect angle to attack. "Mars, Furry Cutter!"

Mars leapt over the boulder he was hiding behind and charged the golem. "Defense Curl!" Brock's order reached Golem just before Mars' scythes did. Deep groves started appearing on Golem's rocky armor, but the flesh that would actually take damage was protected. The whole gym went silent as Mars' attack continued. One minute, two minutes, the grooves being gouged into Golem's armor were getting thicker and deeper, three minutes passed and Mars showed no signs of slowing down. Mars swung down again and an audible crack could be heard as his scythe nearly pierced Golem's armor.

"Enough! This battle ends now!"

"That enough Mars. Come back." Mars bowed his head and leapt to The young man's side where he collapsed to a knee, exhausted. "I have to say Brock, I am extremely impressed. Mars had the perfect angle and yet it took him three minutes to break through your defense. I was beginning to wonder if I would have to call an end to the battle myself." The young man placed a hand on Mars' head. "He was at his limit. If he hadn't broken through on that last swing it would have been our loss."

"You're not the only one that's impressed. Before today I would have said that no scyther could break Golem's defense, but you did it. Can Mars battle further?"

The young man looked down at Mars and Mars nodded. The young man smiled under his mask and shook his head. "He can, but I won't let him." Mars hung his head and Alexis smiled in surprise. "He was already pushed to the limits of his endurance in this fight. There's no need to push him any further. He earned his rest."

"So you are withdrawing him from the battle? He doesn't have to fight consecutively."

"I may be allowed to make substitutions, but I won't. A battle is supposed to be fought with honor and respect as you said. I will take no advantage that you don't have equal access to."

Brock smiled and brought his fist to his chest. "Well said. Very well, it is now two on two."

The crowd erupted in cheers again as the two trainers acknowledged each other's strength and spirit. Alexis looked around in amazement and then smiled. She realized that this was why Amar was so excited when he found out about the gyms and once again looked around to find him. She hugged the eevee to her as they got caught up in the excitement. Even Jasper was getting excited.

"Way to go kido!"

"That was excellent!"

"Who'd have thought that Golem would go down?"

"Nice effort Brock! Don't underestimate him again!"

Golem limped over to Brock's end where he was given a pat on the head and some words of comfort before being returned to his pokéball where he could rest.

"I don't want you getting too excited now, young man. Now that I know you are synched with your pokémon I must test your bond of trust. How much of a beating can you pokémon take before they lose faith in you? Kabutops!"

The young man stared at the legendary pokémon. They were supposed to be extinct, and yet this gym leader owned one. The young man looked down at Rand and Kai, both of them would be at a disadvantage against this creature of water and rock. "Rand. It's your turn." Rand barked his acknowledgement and then jumped down into the arena. Rand howled causing everyone to cover their ears at the hair-raising eerie sound he produced.

"A houndour! He's fighting a kabutops with a houndour!"

"Come on kid! What happened to that impressive strategy from a moment ago?"

"He must have some plan, let's just watch."

"Ready? Begin!" The official retreated to his platform just in time as fire and water collided in the middle of the field. The entire field was covered by steam so thick that none could see through it. The fans were silent as they had no idea how to cheer. Dampened sounds of barks and the clash of Kabutops' claws hitting stone occasionally penetrated the fog, but still no one could tell what was going on. Suddenly, the fog was blown away as Kabutops' struck a water pipe. The entire field was saturated before the water feeding into the pipe was redirected. Kabutops was standing unfazed and unscratched. Rand looked disgruntled from the sudden downpour but had no injuries.

"Hydro Pump." Brock was no longer shouting out his commands, but issuing them calmly and patiently like the stone. Kabutops swung around to face Rand and unleashed a massive volume of water. Rand leapt behind a boulder and got knocked flying as the boulder was blasted away by the water. Rand landed heavily and struggled to his feet. He shook his head and looked up in time to see Kabutops' claw swing down and smash him to the ground. Kabutops then spun around and kicked Rand, once more sending him flying.

The young man cursed silently as he tried to find a weak point in Kabutops' defense. He knew Rand was waiting for an order to attack. All his pokémon had been trained to evade until ordered to attack. "Hydro Pump." The young man watched as Kabutops crossed its arms and then unleashed another blast of water. Having learned from last time, Rand ran instead of trying to take cover. Kabutops stopped firing and staggered a step as it regained its balance. The young man's eyes narrowed when he saw that, and then he grinned. He had found an opening. He waited as Brock issued command after command, ordering Kabutops to harass Rand. Rand was stumbling as he tried to evade Kabutops' attacks. "That's far enough. Kabutops, finish this. Hydro Pump."

"Dodge it Rand!" Rand's ears pricked from the sudden command and he jumped to the side as the water came blasting out. "Get closer!" Rand closed the distance between himself and Kabutops, ducking under the blast of water or jumping over it. He got in right at Kabutops' feet just as it finished firing. It stumbled to catch its balance and the young man knew it was time. "Dark Pulse!" Not able to aim any higher, Rand blasted a pulse of dark energy at Kabutops' feet. Kabutops fell over and Rand closed his fangs around Kabutops' throat.

"Enough! This battle is over!"

"Come back Rand." Rand released Kabutops and trotted over to The young man. He jumped up and collapsed at The young man's feet, panting heavily. Kabutops stood up and saluted Rand before walking off the field.

"That's twice now. I'm assuming you're removing Rand from further battle?"

"Yeah. It's one on one now."

"But you've one twice."

"Does that mean I win automatically?"

"No. This isn't a tournament style battle. As I said, I'm testing your worthiness to enter the League. The previous battles have shown that you are synchronized with your pokémon and that they trust you. But now I must test your willingness to crush your enemies. These are battles, if you are too soft than you won't make it. Come! Show me your will to battle! Bastiodon!"

"It's your turn, Kai." Kai jumped down and pulled out two bones. He swung them experimentally and then started spinning them. He then faced off against the large dinosaur.

"Ready? Begin!"

Bastiodon immediately started charging. Kai didn't even blink as the massive animal came bearing down on him. He threw one bone and then the other, before pulling out a massive bone that he had to hold with two hands.

"Check out that cubone!"

"Did they always carry so many bones?"

"Why'd it throw those bones away?"

Just then the bones that Kai had thrown earlier bounced off of boulders and came back spinning, straight into the legs of Bastiodon from different sides. With both sets of legs taken out form different directions, Bastiodon found itself in momentarily suspended in the air as its legs were taken out from under it. The young man didn't wait for Brock to regain control of the situation. "Finish it." Kai immediately jumped into action, swinging the giant club down from above his head and driving Bastiodon into the ground.

"That's enough! This battle is over!" The crowd erupted in cheers as Brock's final pokémon lay defeated.

"The newbie did it!"

"There's a new challenger in the League!"

"How long has it been since someone impressed Brock?"

"Too long! It feels good to have a young rookie again!"

Alexis hugged Jasper and Jace tightly as they started trilling excitedly. She smiled, knowing that this was exactly what Amar had been hoping for. The eevee were going to be eager to start training.

The young man and Brock met in the middle of the field, Kai the only pokémon unaffected by the battle walking by the young man's side. "So, young man, what do I call you? You must have a reason for the mask."

The young man paused, he hadn't thought of a name before. He had no idea what to call himself. He went with the first thing that came to his mind. "Jakul. Call me Jakul."

"Jackal? Interesting…" In that moment Brock noticed the dark etchings of Anubis along the sides of the mask. "Very well, let me make this official. I hereby declare Jackal, trainer of Mars the scyther, Rand the houndour, and Kai the cubone, worthy of entering the Pokémon League. As proof of my acknowledgement, here is the Stonebadge."

The crowd roared its approval as Jakul bowed as he accepted the badge and then left.


	3. Chapter 3

Alexis struggled through the crowd, craning her neck trying to find Amar. He had said that he was going to get ice cream when they were on the way in but she hadn't been able to find him since. She was startled when she felt someone tap her shoulder and spun around to find Amar standing there grinning apologetically, holding two ice cream cones.

"Sorry about the wait. I got bumped and dropped them on the way in so I went to go get more, but by the time I got back the fight had already started so I got distracted."

"Well, you did bring the ice cream like you promised, so I guess I can forgive you. Did you see what you were hoping to?"

Amar's eyes lit up as he remembered the fight. "It's everything I was hoping for. These gyms are awesome. I wonder if I could build my own?" Amar's voice trailed off as he imagined all of the different things he would want to do with his gym.

Alexis just laughed and took a huge bite out of her ice cream as they walked out into the city.

"We're here! Pewter City, home of your first gym and my first pokémon!" Jenna was jumping around almost as much as Eevee. Clarissa smiled, as always amused by Jenna's almost childish enthusiasm. "Anything you wanna do Ryss?"

"No, not in particular." Clarissa looked back to see Mike training with Vulcan and Enlil. Vulcan had quickly shown himself too competitive and aggressive to train with Poseidon and Eevee was not ready to fight yet, so Enlil was the only who could battle with him. "And since when did you start calling me Ryss?"

"I dunno, am I not supposed to?"

Clarissa suddenly felt bad for the way she was talking to Jenna. It wasn't like Jenna knew that Mike was the only one who called her Ryss. "No, no. It's fine. It's just that, well, Mike's the only one who ever called me Ryss before."

"Really? I had no idea you two were-"

"We're not!" At Jenna's surprised look Clarissa blushed. "I mean…that is…"

Jenna just smiled and glanced over at Mike to see if he was paying any attention, but he was too busy coordinating the movements of Vulcan and Enlil. "If you're that wishy-washy about it then he's gonna get the wrong idea." She said in a sing-song. "He'll be chasing you before you know it."

"No he won't. Will he? You don't think he would do you?"

"Do you want him to?"

"Yes." Clarissa blushed again for answering so fast and tried to cover herself. "Maybe. I think so?"

Jenna was laughing at Clarissa's predicament while still trying to be supportive and helpful. Clarissa didn't think she was doing a very good job. "That's up to you. But you better decide soon." Jenna looked over at Mike again and watched as he berated Vulcan for ignoring his orders.

"I can see the whole battlefield. Your vision is blocked. If I hadn't stepped in you would have been blasted." Mike was holding Enlil's tail and Jenna could already see a bruise developing on his arm from when he had blocked it. "I'm not trying to say that you can only act on my command, you know what your body needs to do better than anyone, but if I do give a command then you need to follow it because it means I'm seeing something you don't." Vulcan stared sullenly for a moment before giving a nod and a bark. "Good." Mike said smiling. "We'll go for another round then."

"He's competent, strong, loves pokémon, and has a great sense of humor. And I'm not as shy as you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like Ryss, I like him too." Jenna ignored anything Clarissa may have tried to say next and turned to Mike. "I'm heading in now Mike. I'll be with my aunt at the station when you finish training."

"Alright." He acknowledged over his shoulder. Jenna pouted a little, but knew that his attention needed to be focused on the two fire pokémon. The two broke off their latest attack and Mike turned around quickly before Jenna was gone. "Jenna!" she turned around, surprise and delight written on her face. "Don't go running into any more wild pokémon. Not unless you want me to become some sort of knight in shining armor anyway." Jenna stuck her tongue out at Mike causing him to laugh, and while he didn't see it, she didn't fail to see the sickly look on Clarissa's face.

After Jenna was gone Clarissa walked closer to where Mike was, watching the fight between Vulcan and Enlil progressively grow more violent. "Enlil, rear!" Enlil twisted enough to use his tail more effectively in an attempt to catch Vulcan. Vulcan, however, had reacted upon hearing Mike's command and leapt back while launching a fierce blast of fire. Enlil ducked under the flames and lunged with his claws extended, intending on taking out Vulcan's legs. "Vulcan, low!" Vulcan cut off his attack and leapt into the air, letting his front drop so he was staring at a surprised Enlil. Vulcan opened his jaws, fangs glowing from the fire growing within his throat. "Enough!" Vulcan chocked on the fire he was suddenly swallowing and lost all control of his movement. Enlil reacted quickly and caught the hound before he landed badly. Vulcan gave an appreciative bark and then stared at Mike questioningly. "That was very good. Both of you. Enlil, you were done for once Vulcan was above you like that." As Vulcan started to gloat Mike tapped him on the nose. "You were screwed too Vulcan, or should I say skewered. Enlil was ready to rip you open with his claws." Vulcan nodded his understanding. He was learning quickly that having someone watch the battle and give commands was far more effective than working on his own strength and instinct alone.

"Wait a minute, where's Eevee?"

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him for a while." Mike turned around, scanning the woods for signs of the little one. "Where is he? Eevee!"

Vulcan barked and ran a little into the woods before turning around and barking again. "That's right! Your sense of smell and hearing are far superior to ours. Track him Vulcan!"

"Michael!" Clarissa couldn't say anymore as Vulcan and Mike had already disappeared into the woods. Enlil sat down and leaned his back against a tree. Clarissa stopped knowing that she couldn't catch up to Mike, instead she reached for Kitsune's ball. The pokéball grew warm and then Kitsune was in her arms, her one golden tail standing out in the middle of the four normal red ones. Kitsune mewed and licked Clarissa's cheek. "Oh Kitsune." Enlil closed the eye that he had been watching with and drifted to sleep. Morpheus was going to be very interested in this.

Deep into the woods and completely unaware that Clarissa wasn't following him, Mike was running as fast as he could to keep up with Vulcan. As they neared an extremely large tree Mike could hear the trilling of Eevee as well as a lighter but fuller tone that made Mike think of the sound of the wind playing through the leaves of the trees. When he could see the base of the trunk he froze, standing in front of Eevee was a leafeon.

The leafeon turned her head as Mike stopped and nodded her approval of his approach. Mike stepped slowly and carefully, doing his best to only step on the dirt and not any of the plants. Vulcan stayed where he was, sensing that this was not a place for him to move freely being a creature of fire. When Mike was close the leafeon rose up and walked over to meet him, Eevee playing around her legs. She stopped in front of him and once again sat down. A vine from the great tree brought down some fruit and held it before Mike. He noticed that it broke into two pieces and so split it, offering half to the leafeon. She smiled and accepted the fruit straight from his hand.

"You're the one who's been helping us aren't you?" At her nod he continued. "Is it because of Eevee?" She nodded again. "Is he yours?" The leafeon shook her head and stood up, pressing her head against his leg. "What? You want to come with me?" She pressed her head against his leg again. "What about the forest? Are you sure you want to leave?" The leafeon looked up at him with deep brown eyes. "Very well. Welcome to the team…Demeter." Demeter waited patiently for the pokéball that Mike pulled out and went in without a fuss. Mike held the ball, still not really believing what had just happened. "Right then, time to get back. Vulcan, lead the way and set the pace a little slower, I can't run that fast for so long."

When he finally returned to where Clarissa was waiting it was almost noon. Kitsune had returned to her pokéball when she heard Vulcan approaching.

"There you are! What happened? Did you find him?" Eevee ran out of the woods just as she finished speaking and ran up to Clarissa and jumped into her arms. "Jeez, don't worry me like that." Clarissa's relieved smile nearly broke Mike's heart. He swore to himself to never leave her alone again. That's when he noticed her eyes were swollen.

"Clarissa, have you been crying?"

"What?" Clarissa was not only surprised by the sudden question, but also by his unusually serious tone and use of her full name. "Wh-Why do you ask?"

"You're eyes are all red and puffy."

"That's a horrible thing to say to a girl." Clarissa had turned away so Mike couldn't see that she was about to cry again, but he felt it.

"Demeter, help me out." Demeter stepped lightly over to Clarissa and rubbed her head against her leg.

"Who-?" Clarissa's question stopped when she saw Demeter. "She's beautiful." Demeter crooned softly, appreciating the compliment. "Where did you find her? Leafeon are rare."

"So Demeter really is a leafeon. I thought so since she got along so well with Eevee." Mike started to walk towards Pewter before he realized the Clarissa wasn't following. "It's about time to get going." Clarissa didn't seem to hear him. "Come on Ryss, I'm not gonna leave you alone again."

Clarissa looked up from staring at Demeter and smiled. "Does that mean you'll wait for me from now on?"

Mike blushed and turned his head so she wouldn't see. "Well, I might not always be there, but I'll make sure that you're never by yourself."

Clarissa laughed as she stood up, glad to see that Jenna had been right. "I suppose that's good enough for now. I think it's about time we caught up to Jenna anyway."

Mike rolled his eyes. "Really? What a great idea! Wish I had thought of that. Oh wait, I did." Mike laughed as Clarissa's eyes narrowed before she gave up and started laughing with him. "I wouldn't be able to say that so easily if you didn't get caught up in your thoughts so much you know."

"Alright, alright, I get it. Let's just go." They walked down into the city laughing, not realizing that Eevee was riding on Enlil's shoulder looking very interested in what he was saying.

0000000000000000

The three of them were looking for a place to eat while they waited for the time Brock had said the battle would be. Mike and Clarissa were being entertained by Jenna as she was ecstatic over finally having her own pokémon.

"She's just so pretty! Her fur seems to always be glowing, and the way it glistens! Oh I just can't get enough!"

"Bet ya Vulcan's stronger."

"Yeah, well, Vulcan's a beast who was born for battle. Taigra's senses are far more acute than Vulcan's"

"What? You can use acute in a normal sentence?"

"Shut up, Ryss. I'm hyper, not stupid."

"I'm sorry I didn't mean it that way."

"Sure."

"It wouldn't hurt you to believe people, you know."

Mike looked back and forth between the two, not knowing what to do. He didn't know why, but he felt that getting involved would be dangerous. Eevee trilled his agreement. Mike started looking around at the buildings they were passing, trying to find a place to eat. He looked ahead to the next corner and saw a nice little café.

"Hey."

What?" Mike winced at the way they both turned on him.

"How about that place."

Jenna looked ahead to where he was pointing and saw the café. "Forget it. That place is the most famous in the whole city. I've always wanted to eat there, but it's always just so busy."

"Well, maybe you just always showed up at a bad time. There's an empty table."

"What! No way! Let's go, Let's go." Mike laughed as he let Jenna pull him along, checking to make sure that Clarissa was still with them which earned him a smile. "Three menus please!" The waiter looked up at the group and then smiled in amusement, seeing the enthusiastic Jenna and Mike and Clarissa panting from the run.

"Here you go."

"Yahoo! I finally get to eat the granite cake!" Jenna practically started running again to get to the table. She got there at the same time as another girl whose beauty nearly took away Mike's breath. Her long black hair and green eyes had a calmness and grace to them that was captivating. Mike shook his head to clear himself of the shock and went over to the table. "Are, are you using this table?" Jenna was trying very hard not to be disappointed, and she was doing well enough that only Mike was able to tell.

"Well, I was going to, but you're in a group and I have no idea when my friend is going to join me."

"It's too crowded to try and find another table, so why don't we share this one." Clarissa, as always, kept a level head when she needed too.

"That's a rather good idea, thank you."

"I'm Jenna." Now that her expectations were assured, Jenna was eager to make a new friend.

"Alexis." She looked questioningly at Mike and Clarissa.

"I'm Mike." Eevee poked his head over Mike's shoulder and trilled. "And this is Eevee." He said laughing.

"I'm Clarissa. Where have you seen eevee before?" This got Mike's attention as he hadn't even noticed Alexis' reaction to Eevee. He looked over and saw that Jenna was also intent on the answer, but not surprised like he was.

"The friend I mentioned before. He has two of them."

"What? Two eevee? But I thought they were extremely rare." Gary had said so himself so Mike was sure that it was the truth.

"They are." She said. "At least, that's what he said too. He left them with me, actually. Jasper, Jace, come on out please." When she called their names two eevee poked their heads out of her jacket. When they saw Eevee they jumped out and onto to the table where Eevee jumped down to meet them. "It seems like they like each other."

"So what is it that your friend is doing?" Clarissa passed her menu to Alexis, opting to share one with Mike instead, and as she was the one who was focusing on the menu she didn't catch the momentary freeze of Alexis' movements.

"He- has some business with one of the corporations."

"Oh," Jenna was unusually calm and focused. "He wouldn't happen to have anything to do with EARTH would he?"

"That's the company whose building blew up in Viridian right?" Clarissa rubbed her ankle remembering the explosion.

"Yes, but why do you think he has business with EARTH Jenna?" Mike was confused as to why it mattered.

Jenna blinked and then laughed, embarrassed. "Well, I really just wanted to show off a bit." Mike joined the others in laughing, but made a mental note that Jenna was not just the fun loving girl she appeared to be.

"He told me to just go ahead and wait here for him, that his business might take awhile and that it would be boring."

"Well, we've got some time so we'll keep you company for the time being."

"You just want to stare at her though."

"Wh-What are you talking about Jenna?"

They all laughed as the eevee played and spent about an hour enjoying each other's company. They laughed even harder when Jenna got excited about finally getting her granite cake.

"Hey Mike, it's already three."

"What? Crap! Look after Eevee."

"Hey, Mike-! Jeez, running off like that already." Clarissa smiled as she picked up Eevee. "Well, shall we get going Jenna? It was a pleasure Alexis."

"What was he in such a hurry for?"

"He's gonna take on Brock." Jenna was pushing her chair in as she got ready to go.

"Really? Mind if I come along? Amar was really interested in yesterday's match."

"Amar?"

"Did I not say that was his name?"

"No. I find it a little odd that you've just been referring to him as 'my friend' for over an hour."

"Leave her alone Jenna. As long as it's not something that will hhurt usshurt us then we shouldn't bother her any further."

Jenna shrugged and grabbed her bag, putting it on her shoulders. "Well, whatever. If you want to watch Mike kick some major butt than you can come along too." Jenna giggled as she tried not to run to the door. "Oh this is gonna be so much fun!"

"Jenna! Slow down! Jeez, everybody's running around so energetically."

"But that's what makes it so much fun to be with them, no?"

Clarissa sighed as she walked next to Alexis. "True, but it's difficult to keep up with all that energy." She shared a laugh with Alexis as they caught up to the impatient Jenna.

0000000000000000

"Big." Mike was staring at the statue of onyx just inside the entrance to the challenger's hall. "Wonder if it's there to impress people."

"That was a life size statue of my strongest pokémon and closest friend. Do you understand what that means young man?"

Mike grinned as the battlefield lit up. "It means this is gonna be fun."

"Oh! The kid's got spunk."

"Reminds you of yesterday's right?"

"Don't go easy on this one Brock! He's got the same amount of confidence as the last one."

Mike cast a glance at the audience and then put them out of his mind. "So, how does this work?"

"I'll take that to mean this is your first gym battle."

"Yeah."

"Then it will be a three on three with you being allowed to make any substitutions you wish."

"You may come to regret allowing me to do that."

"That's quite the confidence you got there kid!"

"Stop talkin' and show us what you got!"

Brock smiled at the crowds enthusiasm but then raised a hand to quiet them. "Just so you know, I am testing your worthiness to enter the league, not fighting you for real."

"All right, let's do this then."

"This will be a three on three battle! Only the challenger may make substitutions. Begin!"

"Let's see how synchronized you are with your pokémon. Sudowoodo!"

"Vulcan!"

Vulcan landed atop a large boulder as Sudowoodo stood before Brock's platform.

"What's with these kids and fire types?"

"Go for it kid!"

"Mike! Win it!"

Mike looked and waved as he saw Jenna waving at him. His smile broadened when he saw Clarissa sitting next to her holding Eevee. He was surprised to see Alexis with them, but decided that it would just make it that much more exciting.

"Where are you looking distracted? Rock throw!"

Mike turned to the field slowly, smiling as he saw Vulcan dropping down behind the boulder he had been standing on.

"Circle right." Mike's commands were calm as he was not in any way concerned, he had already seen the next set of moves for this battle. Vulcan raced around the right side of the boulder and closed on Sudowoodo. "Flamethrower, return." As the fire erupted from Vulcan's mouth he was enveloped in a bright light. "Poseidon, Water Gun, return." Poseidon popped out of his pokéball, unleashed a jet of water from the left side, and was then also enveloped in the light. "Demeter, Vine Whip, hold it." Demeter landed gracefully and then channeled her energy into the ground causing vines to grow which she then controlled to wrap around Sudowoodo even before Vulcan's or Poseidon's attacks reached it. The entire arena was silent as Sudowood was assaulted from both sides by opposing elements, held in place by Demeter's vines.

"Enough! This battle is over!"

Demeter leapt atop a boulder and then sprang from there to reach Mike's side where she sat next to him. He reached down with one of his hands and patted her head. "Well done Demeter, you guys too." The balls glowed slightly as the pokémon inside them acknowledged his praise.

The crowd remained silent as Brock recalled his battered pokémon with a look of concern. "Is this what you meant by that I would regret allowing you to make substitutions as you saw fit? Truthfully, with that one battle you passed all of the tests, however, you don't seem to be concerned for the safety of your opponent."

"Your Sudowoodo was far too healthy for that to have even been close to lethal."

Brock's expression darkened from the frivolity of Mike's remark. "Very well. Let me show what it means to make a gym leader serious. Onyx!"

The ground started shaking and dust fell from the rafters overhead. The ground split open as the large boulders scattered throughout the battlefield receded into the ground only to come back up, revealed as a part of Onyx's body.

Mike stared in surprise at the massive snake before him. "I thought you said that statue was life size?"

"It was when it was made, but that was almost two years ago."

"Huh. Demeter, Overgrow!" Demeter leapt to the battlefield and started glowing with a verdant green light as plants began to sprout all over.

"Nice try, but this place is too dry."

"Return. Vulcan, Fire Spin. Return. Poseidan, Water Gun. Return. Demeter, Overgrow." Vulcan launched a firestorm that was impressive only to anyone who hadn't seen Hinote's. The plants were incinerated and the ash mixed in with the churning earth creating decent soil. Poseidon attacked Onyx directly, the spray watering the whole field, though it didn't seem to bother Onyx. Demeter came back out and began glowing again, but Brock and Onyx had been waiting for that. Almost immediately after she came out, Onyx's slam attack caught her from the side.

"Don't think you'll be able to do it twice, boy."

Demeter struggled to her feet as the colossal onyx turned its head to look at her. Getting a bad feeling, Mike pulled out Demeter's pokéball. Mike blinked as the light emitted from the ball dissipated as it encountered the dust in the air.

"Arena Trap." At Mike's look of confusion Brock continued. "The elements in this dust disrupt the energy from the pokéball. You can no longer make substitutions. Now, show me how you fight when you can't overwhelm your opponent in a three on one battle."

All of Mike's enthusiasm evaporated as he realized that he was now in a fight much like when he encountered the Mightyena pack. "Very well. Demeter, Vine Whip." Onyx's body began to writhe making it impossible to hit, but he wasn't Demeter's target. The roof erupted upward as the vines slammed into it opening the arena to the sky and sun. "How about learning about chlorophyll? Vine Whip!" The vines cracked against Onyx's skin before it even had a chance to register the attack command. "I'm sure you know this, but a leafeon's speed doubles in the sunlight. Demeter's too fast for you now."

"Don't get so confident. How do you think I've held my position as a gym leader for so long. Onyx!" Onyx rose up until its body blocked the whole Demeter had made, reducing the sunlight. "Bind." Onyx's tail whipped out and ensnared Demeter, trapping her within his coils.

"Demeter!" Mike grimaced and raised his hand.

"Enough! This battle is over!"

The crowd erupted in cheers as Mike went out to pick up Demeter as the pokéballs energy was still being blocked. "I'm glad to see that you at least care about the limits of your own pokémon, but you have to have concern for the opponent as well."

"At your level, if you can't tell when your pokémon needs to be recalled then you don't deserve to be a trainer." The crowd went silent again at the harsh tone and words coming from Mike. "Poseidon, crush him." Laughter filled the stadium as Poseidon came back out. In his previous appearances he had only been on the field long enough to fire off a single attack, so none of the crowd was sure of what species he was. Poseidon looked up to Mike's platform and saw the collapsed form of Demeter causing his normally cheerful countenance to turn as violent as Mike's. "Poseidon, the face."

Onyx lunged toward Poseidon, but Poseidon didn't move. He waited until Onyx was near and then fired off a volume of water far greater than any he had shot before. Onyx roared as his head was driven back by the fierce stream of water. Poseidon's body began to grow and change as he continued to drive off any and all attacks by Onyx with powerful blasts of water. Mike's energy began to build as Poseidon continued to fight, reawakening the enthusiasm that had died when Brock had unleashed Onyx on Demeter. Brock noticed this and for the first time since the battle had started he smiled approvingly. Onyx knocked Poseidon through the air and then slammed him into the ground. Mike once again raised his hand, signaling his defeat.

"What's wrong? That's not his limit is it?"

Mike grinned as Poseidon jumped up to be at Mike's side. "Not even close, but he can't beat Onyx yet, so there's no need to make him go through the pain."

"Your only other pokémon is a growlithe. How do you intend to win with a fire pokémon when I still have another rock type I haven't used yet?"

Demeter sat up and Poseidon crossed his arms as he stood at Mike's side. "Cause he can. No matter how strong Onyx is, he's taken a lot of damage from the combined attacks of Demeter and Poseidon. Let's go, Vulcan."

Vulcan's fangs lit up as he leapt out of his pokéball. He bit down on Onyx's tail, and continued to bite through it as the rock melted. Vulcan jumped back as Onyx thrashed about in pain. "I suggest you forfeit young man. Onyx does not normally experience pain and does not like it when he does." As he spoke, a strange light began to gather within Onyx's mouth. "Onyx! Wait!"

Mike hesitated for only a moment, cursing the Arena Trap particles that were still floating around. "Overheat!" Vulcan's body burst into flame and a blast of fire stronger and brighter than any Mike had seen before rushed out from him to meet the pulse of energy that was launched from Onyx. The two attacks merged and melted into each other before they exploded. The concussion and flash of light deadened everyone's senses, even through the protective barrier that protected the trainers and the fans. When the smoke cleared and the streams of energy died down, Onyx was seething with fury and Vulcan was collapsed on the ground.

"That's enough!" The platform lowered and Mike leapt out, running over to Vulcan. "Gym Leader, what is your verdict?" The crowed went silent as they all looked in anticipation to Brock. After a few minutes of silence the crowd started fidgeting.

"Do you think he passed?"

"No way, he didn't even beat two pokémon."

"But he forced Brock to use Onyx and then forced Onyx to get serious."

"But he also really pissed Brock off."

"Shh. Brock's ready to make his judgment!"

Brock stared down at Mike as his platform lowered. "You show a complete disregard for the wellbeing of your opponents, you are vicious and ruthless in your attacks," Brock paused as he allowed his comment to sink in. "However, your pokémon have complete faith in you and follow your commands without question. You've also shown that you have great battle senses and care greatly for your pokémon. While I wish that you were more concerned for your opponents, I can't deny that you are ready to enter the Gym Battle Challenge. Not to mention that you were able to make rational judgments to keep your pokémon safe even though they were facing a far superior opponent. As such, I hereby award Mike, with his pokémon Vulcan the growlithe, Poseidon the wartortle, and Demeter the leafeon with the Stonebadge."

The crowd erupted in cheers once again. "There's another new challenger!"

"Two newbies in as many days that impressed Brock! The next few years are going to be amazing!"

"Mike! Way to go! Who cares that you lost! You won! I mean, got approved! I mean…oh who cares. Good job!"

Mike laughed at Jenna's typical enthusiasm, but stopped when Brock put a hand on his shoulder. "That was really risky, using Overheat like that."

"I had no choice, if I hadn't then Onyx would've killed Vulcan. Just so you know, that was the first time I've ever used Overheat."

"Hmm. I didn't expect Onyx to use Hyper Beam so readily. It's unusual for him to use that move without my command." Brock stopped again as he looked at Mike. "Just a word of warning, I don't know what your first battle experiences were like, but most people will consider you ruthless rather than calculating. Seeing your pokémon up close I now know why you said some of the things you did; much as I did when I was younger you have the makings of a fine breeder. Most people can't recognize you have this talent though."

"Until I fight someone who is at my level and I can just enjoy the fight, every battle will feel like the first two, life or death."

Brock looked with wonder at Mike. "How old are you Mike?"

"Fifteen."

"And you've already been in a life or death battle?"

"Yeah."

"How can you be so upbeat?"

"I won. That's all there is to it." Mike started smiling again for the first time since the battle started. "And I was too busy trying to keep those around me safe to be thinking of the danger I was in until it was past so it didn't really register."

"Mike!" Mike collapsed to the ground under the sudden weight of Jenna leaping on him. "I wanna go celebrate! Come on!"

Brock laughed as Clarissa and Alexis came up to join them. "I see. Try not to overdo it Kiddo."

Mike grinned up from the ground as Jenna tried to pull him up while still sitting on his back. "Just you watch the next one. You've given me a lot to think about."

"Geez, Mike! Stop being so serious! You won! Well, you lost the battles but won the war, or something like that. Anyway, let's go celebrate!" Jenna finally got Mike to his feet and started dragging him away to the protestations of Clarissa and the laughter of Alexis, Brock, and the fans.

Jakul cursed as he ducked around the corner. He checked the hasty bandage he had made along his ribs then leaned out and hurled the pipe he was holding against the machine firing beams of energy at him. It exploded when it got struck and Jakul ducked around the corner again to avoid the shrapnel. "Should've know they'd increase security after Viridian. Soze!" The dragon flowed out of his pokéball and looked with concern at Jakul's wound. "I'm fine, I need you to clear the way for me." As Soze flew off down the corridor Jakul released more pokémon. "Rand, make sure that no humans or pokémon get near without warning. Kai, destroy anything that get's in our way." Both pokémon were surprised by Jakul's injury, but nodded their understanding. Jakul wished he could use Mars for scouting, but the halls were not nearly large enough for him to fly around. "Alright, let's go."

Jakul, Rand and Kai proceeded down the hall following the path of destruction left behind by Soze. Jakul grinned his approval as he saw the wreckage, he knew better than to make a dragon angry, and now EARTH would too. He saw a data pad and bent down to pick it up when he heard whimpering. He looked up and dropped the pad from shock. He was staring straight at the one person he had not wanted to meet since he decided to leave.

"Why are you doing this?"

Jakul clenched his teeth and glared at Rand through his mask. Rand whined apologetically. Jakul was trying to figure out why Rand's senses had failed him when he saw the scarf that she was wearing, it had been his present to her for her last birthday so his scent must have lingered on it. "It's dangerous for you to stay here. And stay away from EARTH in the future."

"Why are you doing this?" She repeated herself.

"I'm going to destroy EARTH. If you don't want to get caught up in this then you should avoid contact with them from here on." He knew it was impossible, both of her parents worked for EARTH. He only hoped that he wouldn't encounter them while he was rampaging.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Jakul ignored her and kept heading deeper into the building but stopped when he heard Rand whining.

"What is it now Rand?" Rand didn't answer, he just kept whining. "Rand?" Jakul turned around and froze, shocked by the scene before his eyes. Her brown eyes laughed mockingly at him as her long brown hair settled around her shoulders from her movement.

"You shouldn't leave your back open so easily Masked Man." Something inside Jakul was furious at her for using the name Alexis had given him. She pulled on the chains in her hand and the harnesses around Rand and Kai tightened. "Call back that dragon of yours and I'll think about letting these two go." Jakul slowly pulled his hand up, knocking Mars' pokéball off his belt as he did so. "What are you-" she cut off as the light flashed and Mars was standing over her, a scythe poised against her throat.

"You shouldn't betray peoples trust like that. I was giving you a chance to get out of here with no trouble and you had to go and waste it. Release them." She didn't move except to change her expression from one of shock and fear to one of hate. Release them now!" This time she tightened her grip on the chains and shocks were sent along them to electrocute Rand. "Damn it Kairi!" The girl's eyes widened and the chains fell from her hands as she stared at Jakul. "Kai, knock her out until we have a better option." Kairi didn't need the help as she fainted on her own. "Well, whatever. Rand, carry her. Mars, you're forward scout." Mars hovered slightly and moved forward slowly, taking care not to hit the walls with his wings with Jakul and the rest behind him, Kairi draped over Rand's back.

A few hours later, after having destroyed more security machines and absorbing a lot of data into the data pad, Jakul finally caught up with Soze at the central computer. The young man pulled out the data pad and hacked into the computer, grateful for the electronics courses he'd taken at the accelerated school. After he had finished taking all the new data he turned to Soze. "We're done here." Soze rose up, his eyes glowing, and a bolt of electricity came screaming from the sky, tearing through the building until it crashed into the computer, short circuiting the entire building and frying all of the equipment beyond repair. The young man looked over at the clock that was now permanently frozen in place, it was 1530. He wondered how the gym battle was going. He glanced over at the still form of Kairi. "I guess I'll have to wait a little longer. Mars? What are you doing?"

Mars was staring at a blob of a strange liquefied red metal that was floating in a cylinder. He reached out with one of his scythes to touch the cylinder, but instead of stopping like he had expected it went straight through and into the red metal. Mars reared back, flinging his scythe as the metal flew up his arm and surrounded his entire body. Jakul stared, stupefied for a moment before his brain overcame his stunned senses. "Mars!" He rushed over to Mars but stopped as Mars stood up, however, Mars was no longer a scyther. Whatever that metal was, it had the properties necessary to evolve Mars into a scizzor. Mars dropped down to one knee with one arm laid across the knee. "Well, I guess this trip was a near total success. Let's get out of here before anything else weird happens." As he left Jakul stared for a moment at Kairi before deciding it would be best to drop her off at home; doing that would make it feel more like a dream to her.

Amar stared for a moment at the burnburned out wreckage that was once the EARTH building. Realizing that he wasn't going to be able to do anything here he turned around and headed back. He was heading to the café when he overheard some of the fans returning from the gym battle.

"I'm telling you, I wanna see a battle between today's newbie and yesterday's."

"What's the point? He'd just get steamrolled like he did today."

"You're kidding right? He demolished Sudowoodo in less than ten seconds! The only reason he lost was cuz he pissed off Brock and Brock siched Onyx on him!"

"Well, that may be true.."

Amar couldn't hear anymore of the conversation as they were too far down the street. He forced himself to unclench his fists as he kept walking. Amar vented his anger within his mind and was back to his normal self by the time he got near the café.

"Oh! There he is! Amar!" Amar turned and waved when he saw Alexis before he saw that she was with a group of people. His eyes were especially drawn to the boy in the group. He was tall, with broad shoulders, light brown hair and deep brown eyes. He didn't know what it was, but something about the way that the boy held himself told Amar that he was worthy of interest.

"So this is the friend you were waiting for when we met you?"

"Yes." He was also getting irritated with the way that the boy was so friendly with Alexis. "Amar, this is Mike, Clarissa and Jenna. They kept me entertained while you were taking care of your business." At the mention of their names they each raised their hands in turn. Amar took note that Clarissa was the quiet and serious type while Jenna was enthusiastic.

"So, what did you think of Brock's match yesterday with Jakul? I heard you and Alexis were there to see it." The young man glanced over at Alexis who shrugged apologetically. He amended his evaluation of Jenna to be enthusiastic and perceptive.

"I hear he did better than today's participant," Amar noticed how Mike's smile faded slightly, letting him know why he had thought Mike was worthy of interest. "but he did make Brock break regulation and use his best pokémon so, who knows which is better. I would have to see today's participant in battle myself to make a judgment. But regardless of who is better, Jakul has a really sharp eye for the weaknesses of his opponent and the mind and ability to exploit them. He's a powerful trainer."

Mike got a strange smile on his face as Amar's explanation continued. "I definitely wanna see him fight for myself now."

AmatAmar also smiled as an idea suddenly came to him. "I passed by him on his way out of the arena and I overheard him telling one of the fans that he was heading to Cerulean next."

"Well, that's convenient. So am I."

"Really? When did this happen?"

Clarissa sighed as she turned to Jenna. "Mike hasn't fought any one on his own level yet. That's why we're going to Cerulean."

Amar looked at Jenna, once again reevaluating her before he suddenly stopped himself and changed his reevaluation. Jenna was enthusiastic, perceptive, and scarily deceptive.

"Shall we Amar? They haven't found a place to stay yet so we should probably let them get on with that." Amar watched, laughing, as all three of stopped and looked at each other.

"It looks like they haven't quite figured that out yet. Well, it was a pleasure meeting you all. See you some other time."

"Yeah," Mike said over his shoulder as Amar and Alexis walked away. "Now what?"

"I dunno, I thought you two had already made plans."

"We thought you had taken care of things since you're aunt lives in this city." Clarissa was looking somewhat concerned.

"What!"

Amar and Alexis laughed as the discussion behind them was quickly turning into an argument. "By the way Alexis, how did Jenna know that I was there?"

Alexis blushed a little as they kept walking. "Oh, I may have, made a little slip. I completely forgot that you were trying to stay as anonymous as possible."

Amar had been about to berate her when he suddenly swallowed it. Images of Kairi and the people from the dragon clan flashing through his mind. "There are some people who don't need to know where I am." That was all that he said and Alexis let it drop. They spent the rest of the evening having fun and exchanging stories on what happened during the day.

"Now what?"

"I dunno, I thought you two had already made plans."

"We thought you had taken care of things since your aunt lives in this city."

"What!" Jenna glanced back and forth between the concerned and angry Clarissa and the amused Mike before grinning. "Well, it just so happens that Aunt Jenny offered to let us stay with her for the night, so, we're set."

Clarissa smiled though her eyes were darkened. "So you were playing with us."

"Hmm? Well, isn't it more fun this way? And besides, I had forgotten until now."

"Is having fun the only thing you care about?"

"No, but having fun is better than not right? And it's not like there was any concern about us not finding a place. And I was serious about not remembering about it until now."

"What-"

"It's fine isn't it? Let's just go before this turns into an argument. I'm too tired to deal with you two getting in a fight right now. Honestly, I don't know why you two fight so much anyway." Mike had already started walking so he didn't see the look that passed between the two girls as they started to follow him. "It's not like your personalities clash that much and there isn't anything in short for you to fight over so…" Mike trailed off as he glanced down a side street, not feeling the cold stares he was getting from behind, too focused on the building with a strange hollow feeling at the end. "Something's wrong."

Clarissa refrained from the remark she was about to make when she felt Eevee stiffen as well. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure, but we should get moving. If we stay here than something's gonna happen."

"That's the EARTH corporation…" Both Clarissa and Mike turned to stare at Jenna, surprised by the seriousness of her tone. "Just yesterday it was like normal. Why is it that every time these two get to a city the EARTH building goes belly up?"

"Uhh, Jenna?" Mike's outstretched hand was ignored. "Really, leaving would be better... she's not listening."

"Jeez, why does she get like this sometimes? I just don't understand her."

"It's 'cause she's not really a goofy airhead. She's just a fun loving girl." He paused and looked at the way she was staring at the building. "A fun loving girl with the heart of a detective." Mike turned to Clarissa and smiled wryly. "Stick close to me, we're gonna end up going in pretty soon and I really don't like the feel of this place." As Mike turned around he felt something brush against his shoulder causing him to jump back with a startled yell.

Clarissa stared at Mike and Jenna turned around, shocked out of her thoughts by the sudden yell. They both just stared at Mike as he stood there with Eevee readjusting his position after nearly getting thrown off when he moved from Clarissa back to Mike. After about a minute Mike started blushing causing the girls to start laughing.

"I never would have thought that Mike was easily frightened."

"Right? He seemed so strong and reliable that I figured he wasn't scared of anything. I mean, he charged into a pack of wild dogs to save me without thinking."

"Come to think of it, he does that a lot doesn't he?"

"Hmm?"

"He fought a guy who had about seven bugs when he only had Enlil after he saw me trapped."

"Did he have a hard time?"

"Of course. He's strong, but he has no experience."

"Oy, oyOi, oi. Don't talk about me like that, it makes me look foolish." By this point, they had all walked over to the entrance of the building without realizing they had decided on exploring the cause of the buildings strange feeling. "Seriously, what's wrong with getting surprised in this situation. I told you that I have a bad feeling about this place."

"But it's not that you were surprised, it's the way that you reacted."

"Whatever, let's just explore this place so we can leave." The laughed again at his sullen tone but Mike had already decided to ignore them. The three of them walked along the empty corridors occasionally catching glimpses of something out of the corner of their eyes, but there was never anything there when they turned to look.

"Hey," Clarissa waited until Jenna and Mike had turned to face her before continuing. "Maybe we should just leave? Mike's right, there's definitely something wrong about this place. And there might be…" Clarissa's voice trailed off as she glanced around nervously.

"Might be..?" Jenna had a mischievous look on her face.

"Ghosts." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"What? Are you scared of a few ghosts?"

"There's nothing wrong with being afraid of ghosts!"

"What are you going to do if a ghost comes out? Run scared to hide behind Mike?"

"Why do you-!"

Mike stopped listening and instead diverted his attention to finding a solution. He needed to find a way to distract them. Whatever had happened here was affecting the girls and causing them to fight even more. He was trying to figure out a way when he suddenly remembered the time when his mom had been really angry. It was a long time ago and all he really remembered about it was that it had something to do with his dad and pokémon, but the part that he was interested in was how his dad had dealt with it. His dad had done something to get her attention and it had really surprised his mom and made her happy. He just couldn't remember what it was. The only thing he could remember about it was the huge flock of butterfree that showed up shortly after. All of a sudden it hit him, butterfree were attracted to flowers and his dad had arranged for an entire field of flowers. Mike didn't have the time or money to try and copy his dad but he did have an alternative.

"Demeter, use Overgrow." Demeter sat down and looked around before finding a suitable place. Her body glowed with a verdant light and suddenly all varieties of plants were growing out of the floor and along the walls. The hallway transformed into a tunnel of flowers. The girls' argument cut off as they stared in wonder at the sudden appearance of so much of nature's bounty. Mike leaned back against the newly florafied wall and sighed in relief. "Finally you two calmed down. I think we've explored enough of this place. Whatever happened here is something that is affecting our emotions. You fight enough as it is, I don't need you two fighting even more."

Jenna and Clarissa shared a bit of an embarrassed look. Jenna laughed a little ruefully as she wrapped her arms around Clarissa. "You've got a point. We can't keep fighting all the time or our fights will ruin the very reason we're fighting."

"Jenna!" Clarissa glanced back and forth between Mike and Jenna with a horrified look on her face, though Mike had no idea why she was so concerned. "Jeez! Fine, let go. Let go of me already."

"Don't wanna." Jenna was back to just messing around which relieved Mike. It worried him when she got serious. "Come on, we fight so much cause we don't get enough skin-ship."

"I'm not a dog!" Clarissa wasn't struggling as much to get Jenna off of her though, and Mike could hear amusement in her voice so he knew that they were getting along better already. He turned to call Demeter along but stopped when he saw her quivering in place with fear.

"Demeter?" The girls turned around as well sensing that something was off. The plants along the hall started dying, alerting Mike that something was very wrong. Just as he figured it would probably be a good idea to call out a couple more fighters the cause of the plants death came streaming out from the walls. "The hell! There are ghosts here!" Clarissa screamed and Mike cursed whatever force had created this. The ghosts were still unstable which meant that they had only recently lost their lives. For there to be this many unstable ghosts meant that a lot of pokémon had died in the last few days. "Enlil, Poseidon, Vulcan, drive them back!" Mike used the time bought by their attacks to get to Demeter. "What's wrong Demeter, come on." No matter how much Mike tried to urge her Demeter wouldn't move.

"Mike!" Mike turned around at Jenna's call to see Clarissa trembling in her arms. "Not here you idiot! Behind you!" Mike turned around again just in time to see one of the ghosts come sweeping in and pass through his chest. A chill spread from where the ghost had flown, turning his body numb. Just as Mike was about to lose consciousness he felt Eevee standing over him, turning back the ghosts as they tried to attack again with a strange dark energy that seemed to radiate from him. Mike once again wondered just what he had gotten his hands on. He glanced over to the girls and saw that Hinote and Taiga were keeping them safe. He forced himself to try and stand, ignoring the numbness that was still within his body.

"Honestly, what is it with me and life or death battles? This is why I can't fight nicely with other people." Mike finally made it to his feet and glared at the ghosts circling around looking for an opening. "When I find the one responsible for causing all this pain and anger I'm going to crush them." His pokémon turned momentarily, feeling the strength of his emotions flowing out, then leapt back into the ghosts and attacked with a new energy. Mike bent down to pick up Demeter but froze halfway when he saw the ghost that had snuck past his other pokémon. In a sort of surreal moment of extended time he stared at the ghost as it looked between him and Demeter. Time sped back up to normal and the ghost launched itself at Demeter, phasing through the wall of plants she had created and disappearing into her body. Demeter mewed pitifully but didn't do anything else. Mike couldn't see anything but the ghosts anymore as his vision had gone black. He wasn't sure himself whether it was from the ghost's attacks or from rage, he just knew that they had hurt Demeter. He felt Eevee standing next to him and could feel the rage cycling between them. Enlil, Poseidon and Vulcan fell back to stand alongside Eevee as their anger at the attack on Demeter was fueled by Mike and Eevee's rage.

Standing behind them, Jenna laid Clarissa down next to Demeter and stared in a mix of fear and awe at Mike and his pokémon. She had known that Mike was very protective of his pokémon, she had seen his fury when his pokémon had been beaten by Brock, but this was completely different. Where that had been anger at losing, they had entered the battle with the knowledge that it was going to be difficult and wanted to test their abilities; here Demeter had been making no effort to fight and had actually been trying to avoid the battle. Jenna was drawn out of her train of thought by the sudden expansion of dark energy from Eevee and Mike's voice. "Five seconds." She had no idea what was going to happen in five seconds but she knew that it was not going to be good. The pulsating dark energies started to stabilize and form a sphere around Eevee. Before she could figure out what could be happening to him she realized that the time had run out. The dark sphere shot out into the center of the ghost horde and was followed by fire and water from the other three. Enlil, Poseidon and Vulcan arched their attacks from the outside, driving the ghosts towards the sphere. "Burst." Jenna saw Eevee nod and then watched as the dark sphere exploded, breaking into pieces that sought out and swallowed the ghosts.

"Mike?" When he didn't respond she walked up slowly, keeping a careful eye on his pokémon, especially Vulcan and Enlil. When she reached him she saw that he was shaking and his hands were clenched so hard into fists that his knuckles were white. "Mike?" He turned his head just enough to see her and Jenna recoiled slightly from seeing his eyes so dark. The color hadn't changed at all, but where they used to be so full of life and laughter they were now dark with anger and pain. She knew that if she didn't act quickly this event was going to scar him. "Mike, Demeter's fine. She's a little shaken but she's fine. Clarissa too, she's just not good with ghosts." Mike turned around to face her fully and she could see that his eyes had regained a little bit of their life. Eevee had also turned and Jenna was shocked to see the exact same emotions reflected in his eyes that she had just seen in Mike's. Seeing that there wasn't really much of a difference in his countenance she decided to try something else. "I can't get them out alone so I need your help. Quit feeling sorry for yourself and do what needs doing."

Mike's eyes flashed with anger but the pain and rage were gone. Even though he was angry it was a normal anger so she couldn't help smiling. "Wha-what's with you? First you talk down at me and then smile as if nothing happened. You think I'm just gonna ignore that?"

Jenna just threw her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm just glad to see you back to normal." Without saying anything else she went over to Demeter and with Taiga's help started carrying her out of the building.

Mike felt the stares of his pokémon on his back and turned to find them grinning at him. He felt his face flush as he realized they knew exactly what had just happened. All of a sudden he turned back down the passage where the ghosts had come from and yelled as loud as he could. His pokémon looked at him as if he was weird and Jenna turned back around looking concerned. "That feels better. If I think too much about this I'm gonna turn all weird."

"Too late for that dear, you're already the craziest guy I know."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mike easily picked up Clarissa in his arms and ran to catch up to Jenna. "And what's with the 'dear?'"

"No real reason. Just wanted to test the sound of it." Jenna grinned at him for moment before her face blanched. She laughed nervously and then faced forward again. "It's this way, we might as well just go to my Aunt's place."

"How much further is it?"

"Not far, and once we get there we can take a hot shower, get some sleep and put this whole thing behinds us." Jenna glanced backwards nervously again before leading the way around a corner back onto a brightly lit and populated road. They got a few strange glances from the people walking around but no one bothered them so they just kept going.

"What's up Jenna? You've been kinda ancy ever since we left EARTH."

"It because of all the craziness that happened there, and I used up a lot of energy cheering for you at the gym, and all of that adrenaline is now suddenly gone." Jenna sighed as she balanced Demeter again before she fell off of Taiga's back. "Even I don't have limitless energy."

"Ummm…j-just how long do you plan on carrying me?" Mike looked down to see Clarissa's bright red face. "N-not that I really mind though."

"Ryss! You're awake! How're you feeling?"

"Embarrassed and exhausted from fainting like that." She paused for a little bit and her blush deepened. "I hate ghosts."

Mike laughed in relief and adjusted her weight so it was more comfortable. "Well, don't worry about that for now and let's just get to Officer Jenny's house so we can rest. I'm at my limit for excitement in one day. Oh, while I'm thinking about it, are there any pokémon doctors in Pewter?"

Jenna turned back from the corner she had just been about to go down., once again with her excited grin. "Didn't you know? Brock is this city's pokémon doctor."

AN: Please review. This is my first work after all and writers love feedback


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